FIFA World Cup Qualifier: Europe, Group A. Cardiff City Stadium, 12/10/12.

All I’ve seen of this are some brief highlights on the TV news.

It seems we had a perfectly good goal chalked off and Wales a dubious penalty, albeit I’ve read they might have had a better prior claim.

Still, Wales were due some comeback on us in a World Cup game.

It was all set up for this result what with them not yet having won under Chris Coleman.

We’re second bottom after three games and we’ve still to play the top two teams in the group. It should be a through-the-fingers viewing job on Tuesday night in Belgium.

That’s the sort of circumstance in which we just might scrape a 1-0 win.

Don’t bet on it, though.

So, English football is in a ferment because Fabio has gone and ‘Arry may be able to take over the reigns. Hmmm.

Fabio didn’t seem to need much to make him jump. Was it just because his bosses went over his head? He hasn’t talked warmly of captaincy in the past. Might he have been looking for an excuse?

Is it at all possible that he suspected the England team is rubbish and would not enhance his reputation in the European Championship this summer? (As they hadn’t at the World Cup in South Africa.) This is a competition, after all, in which England have a dismal record – except when they hosted it. (Now, where have I heard something like that before?)

While England players seem to be high performers at their clubs their international efforts are less memorable. Is that because, at their clubs, they are surrounded by excellent footballers who make them look good, while in the national team they only have – at best – competent footballers (themselves) around them?

The situation is a boon for the FA too. Any “failure” this summer can be attributed to the fallout from the Terry affair and they can blame Fabio for running off. Win-win.

The timing isn’t good though. ‘Arry has built a good team at Tottenham – with not that many Englishmen, you’ll note. He will surely want another crack at the Champions League* next season – maybe even a tilt at the Premier League title.

Who would want the poisoned chalice, though? The ridiculous expectations of the English press and TV pundits make the job of England manager not worth having.

* So-called.

In an interview on Football Focus today – I had a quick look on the BBC website and the iPlayer but the clip doesn’t seem to be there – Steven Gerrard, talking about the World Cup, said that England had gone to South Africa as “genuine contenders.”

Oh really, Steve?

You just don’t get it, do you?

What with family birthdays, work retiral dos and a football extravaganza all ongoing at the moment I may not be posting overmuch in the next week or so.

Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg, 12/6/10

Honours even, then. Possibly a fair result.

Contrary to the TV pundits I thought it was a thoroughly disjointed and lack-lustre performance from England in the first half – which the US dominated even if they didn’t work Robert Green enough. (As it turned out working him once was enough.)

Rooney was anonymous, Lampard was anonymous – I don’t recall him being on the ball at all till the second half.

The US, by contrast, seemed to have an idea of what they were trying to do: at least their passes were crisp and reaching their team mates.

It was noticeable that after the US goal the commentator suddenly remembered that the US pushed Brazil hard in the final of last year’s Confederations Cup.

In the second half things opened up a bit late on, Rooney began to make an impact on the game, but neither side looked totally convincing.

So. Did we see potential winners tonight?

Let’s put it this way.

I don’t think Brazil, Spain, Argentina or even Holland will be quaking in their boots.

Edited to add: I see from the highlights that Lampard was involved in the goal – but that was his only contribution to the first half.

With the event looming ever nearer, let us examine the record of “one of the favourites for the World Cup.”

1930: Thought it was beneath them/couldn’t be bothered.

1934: Thought it was beneath them/couldn’t be bothered.

1938: Thought it was beneath them/couldn’t be bothered.

1950: Discovered it wasn’t. Quite the reverse.
Eliminated in first round, famously, in Belo Horizonte, losing to USA 1-0.
An omen? (Also lost 1-0 to Spain.)

1954: Quarter-final, lost to Uruguay 4-2.

1958: First round play-off. Lost to USSR 1-0.

1962: Quarter-final, lost to Brazil 3-1.

1966: Downhill, with a following wind, a suspicious late switch of semi-final venue, not to mention a compliant Azerbaijani linesman, (take a bow, Tofik Bakhramov) drew in final 2-2 with West Germany, then “scored” twice in extra time.

1970: Quarter-final, drew 2-2 with West Germany; lost 3-2 after extra time.

1974: DNQ!

1978: DNQ!

1982: Drew 0-0 in second round (effectively the quarter-finals) not only with West Germany but also with Spain. Eliminated.

1986: Quarter-final, lost 2-1 to Argentina (or, if you like, to the hand of God.)

1990: Semi-final! (which they only reached because Cameroon couldn’t be bothered to sit on a lead.) Drew 1-1 with West Germany after “best goalkeeper in the world” cannot take two steps backwards at a free kick. (1-1 aet.) Lost on penalties.

1994: DNQ!

1998: Second round. Drew 2-2 with Argentina. (2-2 aet.) Lost on penalties.

2002: Quarter-finals. Lost 2-1 to Brazil. Yet another “best goalkeeper in the world” couldn’t stop a lobbed free kick.

2006: Quarter-finals. Drew 0-0 with Portugal. (0-0 aet.) Lost on penalties.

Out of seventeen tournaments only one final – and that at home.

Six no-shows, two first round failures, one (or two) second round exits, four (or five) quarter-final defeats, one loss at the semis stage.

It’s obviously going to be a skoosh, lads.

No sooner had the tedious process finished than Motty was at it again. England willl win it, he said.

At least Alan Shearer and Mark Lawrenson went for Spain and Brazil – though, historically, Spain have an even poorer World Cup record than England. (Not so in European Championships, of course.)

There was a degree of unseemly euphoria at England’s “good” draw and first place in the group was taken for granted. Already it was so-and-so (possibly Germany, though the likely alternatives, Australia – even Serbia and Ghana – could be tough prospects) in the last sixteen and France in the quarter finals.

Let us be clear about this. The USA are no mugs. They could have won the Confederations Cup last summer. If the USA play to form, England will be stretched to beat them. Algeria beat the African Nations champions, Egypt, to qualify and Slovenia may well spring a surprise.

[By the way, judging by how France struggled to qualify, they will only get to the last sixteen if Uruguay and South Africa are mince. I expect at least one of them to be tougher.]

As for the quarter finals, that will be your lot. Overseas it usually is.