Moving on, it turns out that my cynicism became a reality. England went in albeit unluckily 1-1 at half time against the Brazilians. Went out to a fluke goal (I would like to take this opportunity to say that I feel Seaman is no way shape or form to blame for the goal.
Any professional goalkeeper facing a freekick from that distance and placed where it was would naturally come off their line a bit to anticipate the cross. Anyone who blames Seaman should hang their head in shame and question their own loyalty) which made it 2-1.
The point which I am looking at is the game after the 57th minute.
Ronaldiniho is sent off after a poor decision, at the most a yellow card. England were 2-1 down but had a one man advangtage, yet again a poor second half showing despite a fantastic first half. I cant re-call England even having a real clear cut chance in the second half, the Brazilian defence which @trick said would be their flaw did not change and still managed to keep an equalising goal going in and pushing forward themselves in order to extend their lead.
England just didn't have any new ideas. Relating to @tricks last article again Heskey, who had a good first half, was poor, predictable and I feel shouldn't even be playing for England on a regular basis. Owen who only had one sniff at goal which all credit to the lad he took and took well but that was only due to a big cock up from Lucio.
There was nothing there, the Brazilians could see what England would do next. A poor second half showing let England down again. England can come back and have their heads held high, reasons for this below;
- Seaman - Outstanding tournament, let down for the fluke goal which will be remembered for.
- Mills - Wasn't very optimistic about Danny Mills but he has proved to be a very good player.
- Cole - Nothing that hasn't been seen from him already but still a good overall performance
- Campbell - Scored the opener but didn't really do much from then, held his own though.
- Ferdinand - My man of the tournament. Excellent defender, fast, good in the air, good awareness. Excellent player, future England captain.
- Beckham - Didn't live up to all the hype but scored the infamous penalty against the Argies. Played well but shame he wasn't as good as he could have been
- Scholes - Played well, deserved something to leave his mark. Strong and attacking minded. Had a quiet but good World Cup
- Butt/Hargreaves/Sinclair - All played well, Butt has matured immensely while Sinclair has shown he is worth a few more cracks in the team. Hargreaves I always believed was a good player, shame he got injured.
- Heskey - Scored a very good goal against the Danish but I feel was poor overall.
- Owen - Had a poor World Cup, considering what he has done. Made some good runs but again disappointing
Like I say, overall the England team have done well but the second half performance let them down. Oh well there is always 4 years time. You never know with it being on German soil we seem to do well there.
I will leave to watch the World Cup without England in there and be as optimistic as ever. I do feel that England could win Euro 2004 and then we shall have to see about Germany 2006.