ROONEY's fire and fitness mask a multitude of sins
A paper cup was blasted into the pitchside wall. The roof of the dugout reverberated to a slap of the hand. His boots were torn off and thrown at the grass. Imprecations were uttered. Wayne Rooney was in a strop.
But it was a rage of frustration, a young man's anger that he had been unable to finish the match and to complete the job he had started. "I asked him about it afterwards and he told me it was because he was disappointed," Sven-Goran Eriksson said, reflecting on his decision to remove the 20-year-old in the 69th minute. "But he played better than last time. He lasted longer, and he will get better and better. I took him off because I can't risk him getting injured."
Seldom was a truer word spoken by an England manager. The team's absolute reliance on Rooney's presence was emphasised last night by a first half in which they functioned properly for the first time in the tournament, despite starting the match with a stroke of wretched misfortune.
As he watched Michael Owen writhing on the touchline less than a minute into last night's match, Eriksson must have wondered what blows fate is reserving for the remainder of this chequered World Cup campaign. Deprived first of Owen, then of Rooney, and now of Owen once again, he found himself summarily thwarted in his desire to reassemble and road-test his most potent striking combination.
Poor Owen, who has spent the last six months struggling to recover from the broken foot he suffered on New Year's Eve. As he was strapped on to the stretcher last night, it looked very much as though his World Cup was in jeopardy. And given the scanty nature of the squad's striking resources, it seemed that the head coach would be needing to brace himself against another assault from his critics.
No squad is ever going to be improved by the removal of a fit and firing Owen, but for a while last night it looked as though this might be one of those occasions on which an accident steers a team towards the discovery of its true form and nature. Eriksson's players gave an instant and positive reaction to the setback, and none more obviously than Rooney. Making his first start for England since the friendly against Uruguay on March 1, he responded to the emergency created by his partner's early departure with a show of vigour that put the utmost pressure on Sweden's veteran centre-backs while working hard to dovetail with Peter Crouch, who was making an unexpectedly swift return as Owen's replacement.
Ninety minutes before the kick-off Rooney and Crouch had wandered on to the pitch among a small group of England players who watched the stadium's giant screens with interest as the early arrivals were treated to a film of the World Cup's greatest misses. Brazilians, Yugoslavs, Frenchmen and Russians were among those whose momentary embarrassments were captured on film for the instruction and amusement of future generations. Among them, indeed, was the great Paolo Rossi, the goalscoring inspiration of Italy's 1982 triumph, who was at that very moment hanging around behind the media area in the Stadion Köln, enjoying a crafty fag.
If you had to bet on an Englishman to match Rossi's impact in the present tournament, it would certainly be Rooney. During the subsequent warm-up he raced around with a zest that brought a smile to the face of David Beckham and launched himself into challenges with a vigour that would have chilled the blood of the FA's insurance underwriters.
Thrown into the fray after an hour against Trinidad & Tobago last Thursday, Rooney revved up the team's mental approach through his mere arrival on the pitch. His failure to beat Dwight Yorke in a straight sprint down the wing, however, prompted questions about his true fitness. Last night he seemed to dispel those doubts, filling the first half with runs of energetic directness and impressive power which seemed to lift the level of the whole team, certainly when compared with their performances against Paraguay and in the first, Rooney-less hour against the Caribbean islanders.
There had been a degree of anxiety that he might fall foul of last night's referee, Massimo Busacca. During the defeat in Belfast last September, the Swiss official booked Rooney for raising his arm to Keith Gillespie and could well have followed up that initial sanction with a second yellow card for various outbreaks of voluble dissent and general disorderliness. On their second meeting, however, Rooney kept his emotions under control, perhaps recognising that Owen's departure placed an extra weight of responsibility on his shoulders.
Only after his own exit did he allow the tensions of the night to surface. Until then he had led the attack with great verve, working hard to give depth and width to an attack that had seemed one-dimensional in his absence. To begin with it was Frank Lampard who most obviously benefited from Eriksson's change of formation and from Rooney's ability to knit together the forward and midfield lines. Making the most of the space vacated by the absent Steven Gerrard, Lampard came to the fore as he has not done for several matches in an England shirt.
And yet almost as soon as the second half began England's most damaging habit reasserted itself. As so often in tournament play, Eriksson's men proved unable to hang on to a hard-won lead. And having begun last night's match by suffering a grievous blow to their strike force, they ended it with their vaunted defence in total disarray. A team who were reputed to have enough highly qualified centre-backs to supply a whole World Cup group turned out to be horribly vulnerable to anything lofted into their goalmouth.
One step forward, one rather sizeable step back. But Rooney's parting show of spirit may yet turn out to have been the night's most significant gesture.
Source: The Guardian
But it was a rage of frustration, a young man's anger that he had been unable to finish the match and to complete the job he had started. "I asked him about it afterwards and he told me it was because he was disappointed," Sven-Goran Eriksson said, reflecting on his decision to remove the 20-year-old in the 69th minute. "But he played better than last time. He lasted longer, and he will get better and better. I took him off because I can't risk him getting injured."
Seldom was a truer word spoken by an England manager. The team's absolute reliance on Rooney's presence was emphasised last night by a first half in which they functioned properly for the first time in the tournament, despite starting the match with a stroke of wretched misfortune.
As he watched Michael Owen writhing on the touchline less than a minute into last night's match, Eriksson must have wondered what blows fate is reserving for the remainder of this chequered World Cup campaign. Deprived first of Owen, then of Rooney, and now of Owen once again, he found himself summarily thwarted in his desire to reassemble and road-test his most potent striking combination.
Poor Owen, who has spent the last six months struggling to recover from the broken foot he suffered on New Year's Eve. As he was strapped on to the stretcher last night, it looked very much as though his World Cup was in jeopardy. And given the scanty nature of the squad's striking resources, it seemed that the head coach would be needing to brace himself against another assault from his critics.
No squad is ever going to be improved by the removal of a fit and firing Owen, but for a while last night it looked as though this might be one of those occasions on which an accident steers a team towards the discovery of its true form and nature. Eriksson's players gave an instant and positive reaction to the setback, and none more obviously than Rooney. Making his first start for England since the friendly against Uruguay on March 1, he responded to the emergency created by his partner's early departure with a show of vigour that put the utmost pressure on Sweden's veteran centre-backs while working hard to dovetail with Peter Crouch, who was making an unexpectedly swift return as Owen's replacement.
Ninety minutes before the kick-off Rooney and Crouch had wandered on to the pitch among a small group of England players who watched the stadium's giant screens with interest as the early arrivals were treated to a film of the World Cup's greatest misses. Brazilians, Yugoslavs, Frenchmen and Russians were among those whose momentary embarrassments were captured on film for the instruction and amusement of future generations. Among them, indeed, was the great Paolo Rossi, the goalscoring inspiration of Italy's 1982 triumph, who was at that very moment hanging around behind the media area in the Stadion Köln, enjoying a crafty fag.
If you had to bet on an Englishman to match Rossi's impact in the present tournament, it would certainly be Rooney. During the subsequent warm-up he raced around with a zest that brought a smile to the face of David Beckham and launched himself into challenges with a vigour that would have chilled the blood of the FA's insurance underwriters.
Thrown into the fray after an hour against Trinidad & Tobago last Thursday, Rooney revved up the team's mental approach through his mere arrival on the pitch. His failure to beat Dwight Yorke in a straight sprint down the wing, however, prompted questions about his true fitness. Last night he seemed to dispel those doubts, filling the first half with runs of energetic directness and impressive power which seemed to lift the level of the whole team, certainly when compared with their performances against Paraguay and in the first, Rooney-less hour against the Caribbean islanders.
There had been a degree of anxiety that he might fall foul of last night's referee, Massimo Busacca. During the defeat in Belfast last September, the Swiss official booked Rooney for raising his arm to Keith Gillespie and could well have followed up that initial sanction with a second yellow card for various outbreaks of voluble dissent and general disorderliness. On their second meeting, however, Rooney kept his emotions under control, perhaps recognising that Owen's departure placed an extra weight of responsibility on his shoulders.
Only after his own exit did he allow the tensions of the night to surface. Until then he had led the attack with great verve, working hard to give depth and width to an attack that had seemed one-dimensional in his absence. To begin with it was Frank Lampard who most obviously benefited from Eriksson's change of formation and from Rooney's ability to knit together the forward and midfield lines. Making the most of the space vacated by the absent Steven Gerrard, Lampard came to the fore as he has not done for several matches in an England shirt.
And yet almost as soon as the second half began England's most damaging habit reasserted itself. As so often in tournament play, Eriksson's men proved unable to hang on to a hard-won lead. And having begun last night's match by suffering a grievous blow to their strike force, they ended it with their vaunted defence in total disarray. A team who were reputed to have enough highly qualified centre-backs to supply a whole World Cup group turned out to be horribly vulnerable to anything lofted into their goalmouth.
One step forward, one rather sizeable step back. But Rooney's parting show of spirit may yet turn out to have been the night's most significant gesture.
Source: The Guardian
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