England U21
They had spent the evening chasing shadows, turned inside out by a side that had done everything to uphold the traditions of a proud nation.
Somehow, though, England’s bid to win the European Under 21 Championship remains intact thanks to the old fashioned values of belligerence and determination. Stuart Pearce’s men could, perhaps should, have been on the brink of elimination. Instead they live to fight another day.
Having trailed to a first-half goal of questionable legitimacy from Ander Herrera — TV replays showed he handled rather than headed an effort past Frank Fielding — they rescued a point in their opening Group B game when Danny Welbeck pounced as full time approached.
Predictably, it was greeted with fist-pumping delight by the players and coaching staff but amid the commotion, Pearce was unmoved. Sporting a blank expression and staring into space, he knew lessons needed to be learned for this adventure in Denmark to continue.
‘There is no doubt there is spirit in this camp,’ Pearce explained. ‘It’s not just me coming out after a game and saying it, I’ve said it for a long time. I know they are never going to give up and will always carry on. But perhaps we needed a touch more arrogance when we were on the ball.
‘If we had the amount of possession they did, the score would have been 4-0 or 5-0 to us. Credit to our players to keep going. We can play a lot better than that technically and individually — and we will do.’
They will need to. Long before the action commenced, England received an idea of what a challenge it will be to progress from Group B after the Czech Republic and Ukraine went head-to-head in Viborg and conjured a fantastic match.
Pearce had been at pains beforehand to stress that it would be exceptionally foolish to rate Spain as the only dangers in this particular pool, not least because the Czechs were the only team who remained unbeaten on the road to Denmark.
Watching them pass with precision and break with speed to secure a 2-1 win against the valiant Ukrainians merely strengthened the perception that whichever nation beats the Czechs in the next fortnight should, in all probability, win the tournament.
Will it be Spain? For much of the game, the answer would have been a resounding ‘yes’. They were superb for long periods, mimicking the way Barcelona and the Spanish senior team keep the ball, giving the impression occasionally that it was all too easy.
Once they took the lead, there only ever looked like being one outcome. True, the goal was an a source of enormous frustration to Pearce, Herrera stealing in at the back post to divert Javi Martinez’s flick on from Juan Mata’s corner.
England’s defenders failed to pick up on was that Herrera appeared to score with his hand — there were no protests to the referee or his assistants about the midfielder’s strike.
While the legality of the goal could be debated — Pearce simply dismissed it as ‘one of those things’ — one thing not in question was the fact it jolted Spain into moving the ball with great dexterity, playing intricate little triangles to advance up the pitch.
A reflection of Spain’s authority came from the fact they enjoyed 62 per cent of the possession during the opening 45 minutes but it was only the brilliance of goalkeeper David de Gea that ensured they went into the interval with a lead.
England improved towards the end of the half and it looked like an equaliser was arriving in stoppage time when Alvaro Dominguez got a toe to Kyle Walker’s cross, sending it looping towards goal but De Gea showed why Sir Alex Ferguson is taking him to Manchester United with a quite superb stop.
That was as close as England, who were watched by senior head coach Fabio Capello, would get until Welbeck’s dramatic late intervention.
Herrera almost gave the scoreline a more realistic look just before the hour but Fielding worked wonders to keep his deflected shot out, flinging himself acrobatically to the left. It proved hugely significant as in the 88th minute Welbeck sprung the offside trap to turn in Walker’s cross.
‘Our boys probably didn’t know how much time they had or how much composure they needed to show, but we’ll learn a lesson form that,’ said Pearce.
‘We know we’ll get better and know it will be tough in our group. As a learning curve it was a fantastic evening.’
He will know, however, it could have been so very different.
Tiada ulasan:
Catat Ulasan