Boring lucky England
It’s official – if you are a fan of boring matches watch England. Their matches against Paraguay, Trinidad & Tobago and now Ecuador have been among the most boring of the World Cup. Their football is dire. They can only be among the favourites on paper because they have done nothing so far to hint that they can become World champions and if there is any justice they won’t. The team have made it through to the quarter-finals because they have been lucky. Their draw has almost been as kind as Germany’s was at Korea/Japan 2002.
There were really only a couple of incidents that were memorable in this match. The first game when John Terry almost gifted Ecuador the lead when his attempted back header fell into the path of Carlos Tenorio, who should have scored. Instead, he took too much time and allowed Ashley Cole to race back and crucially deflect Tenorio’s shot onto the bar.
The second was David Beckham’s trade-mark free kick which gave England victory. He sent the ball up and over the wall and while Mora got his finger tips to it he could do no more than push it onto the post and into the net – a better goalie might have been able to do more. From then on England tried to hang on to their lead, replacing their best player at this tournament, Joe Cole with Jamie Carragher.
While Ecuador made good progress in reaching the English penalty area they rarely troubled Robinson again. Lampard had a great chance when Rooney nutmegged a defender and set him up but much like the other 20+ shots he has had in Germany to date, his effort was wildly off-target. Eriksson’s men now face Portugal on Saturday for a place in the semis. Based on current form it should be their last match of the tournament.
