Becks fires England into QF

I had not blogged for a while. The reason is quite obvious. I had my visa interview on June 23rd and I was running around Chennai (mainly CEG, for my pc) getting the documents ready for the big one. The hard work paid off and I got my visa. Piece of cake actually. (But the night before, I was totally pissed off that Czechs were out of the World cup)
While I was preparing docs for visa, I dint miss most of the matches but had no real time to blog about them.
But I am back now. Lets get things started. Again.
To the England vs Ecuador match.
I was pissed off with England’s performance in the 1st round. I was really hoping that the Three lions would relentlessly march to the 2nd round. It was not to be. The players, I love, admire and worship, dint perform to their potential and more importantly, dint perform as a team. Owen out too!! Things weren’t exactly rosy. They were far short of the frontrunners tag imposed on them.

So, it was with much apprehension, that I watched the preview. I expected the idiot Eriksson to go for a 4-5-1 and he did. But I was worried that Rooney might be under lotsa pressure, on his own upfront. And I don’t like Hargreaves at all. A versatile player, many say. I don’t agree. He has no presence and he neither attacks nor defends. He just runs around. A total waste!!!

England went into the match as favorites, thou not as overwhelming favorites. And they did win, albeit unconvincingly (again). But their performance was much better than their 1st round’s.
It was stifling hot at Stuttgart. So, as expected, England started sluggishly. Lamps nearly created two chances for Rooney but the weight of the pass was too much for Roo.
Rather surprisingly, Ecuador had the first real chance of the game. Terry squandered a attempted headed clearance and C. Tenorio pounced on it but dwelled on the ball jus a wee bit long for Ashley Cole to come sprinting backwards and deflect his shot on to the crossbar. My heart nearly stopped for a moment. No, it really stopped. Big Jesus!! What if Cole hadn’t retreated.. What the fuck happened to Terry?? English defense looked shaky in the Sweden encounter. Oh pls. not again.
Lamps had a chance to get clear but Hurtado got an important touch on the ball.
Terry's rather uncertain afternoon continued as he received a caution on 18 minutes for an a rather ridiculous high lunge on Tenorio. What was happening to Terry?
From the resulting free kick Edison Mendez whipped in a dangerous set-piece which Ferdinand appeared to divert narrowly wide although the referee took the view it came off an Ecuadorian player. Rio was ok but Terry was no way near his best. We are talking about world class defenders here!!!
Shortly afterwards, Beckham opted against shooting at an inviting-looking free kick. He cleverly chipped the ball to Gerrard whose cross was just too high for Joe Cole to direct a header on target; Beckham's attempt from the rebound was blocked.
A neat interchange between Gerrard and Rooney created a shooting chance for Lamps on the edge of the box but the Chelsea man failed to catch the ball cleanly and Mora made a comfortable save, while on 35 minutes Beckham flashed a dipping 30-yard free kick just wide.
Lamps was continuing his woeful shooting form. Can someone just help him find that awesome Chelsea form???
Back to the game.
With England struggling to create, the South Americans almost presented their opponents with a chance to open the scoring when Hurtado lost the ball to Rooney in a dangerous area 30 yards from the goal. A last-ditch sliding tackle by the defender stopped the rampaging forward although there was a suggestion the ball caught the defender's hand.
Just before the interval Delgado (the only Ecuador player I like) thundered into Hargreaves and caught the makeshift right back with a painful boot on the knee which left a nasty gash and saw the Bayern Munich man forced off for extended treatment. That’s good news for England!!
He was back out for the second period, though, and a fine passing move five minutes in almost broke the deadlock as Gerrard's intelligent low cross from the left flashed across the six-yard box but just beyond the stretching Rooney.
Roo, increasingly frustrated, did his best to muscle his way on to a dinked pass by Lampard but found his way blocked by Hurtado and Espinoza.
However, the deadlock was broken moments later, although somewhat predictably it took a set-piece to do the damage.
Lampard was fortunately awarded a free kick just a couple of yards back from the angle of the penalty area. Stepped in, Becks, the free kick specialist who hadn’t scored a free kick in internationals for three years. He had been largely anonymous till now. But he ensured he was in the headlines in the papers next day with an exquisite curler.
He curled it beautifully and Mora had no chance really. Agreed, Mora should have stood a little to his right knowing Becks. But who cares?? Becks back!! And England are in the lead!! Muhahahahaha!!!
The goal seemed to lift England and Lamps drove a left-footed effort a foot wide of an upright shortly afterwards, while a lax pass from Hurtado presented the same player with what appeared a great chance to shoot. But Lamps passed it to Roo unselfishly who was caught on his heels.
Valencia reminded England they were still in a game when a rasping drive from 20 yards forced Paul Robinson to turn the ball behind for a corner at full-stretch.
Ecuador appeared to have lost the plot since England had taken the lead as a succession of sloppy passes and rather casual defending allowed England to fashion two decent chances. But Lamps’ demons came back to haunt him again. And Again.
His worst miss came following a wonderful piece of skill from Rooney who outfoxed Hurtado on the touchline before pulling back for Lamps. Lamps skied the shot even thou he had a clear view of goal.
Though I knew Lamps was not at his best, this miss was totally unpardonable. I felt both anger and pity seeing Lamps shake his head. Anger that Lamps is wasting chance after chance for England in the World cup!! And pity that such a great player is making a parody of himself in front of goal.
The final whistle blew and the England fans (including me) were happy. Just happy. Not ecstatic.

Post Match Ramblings:

England failed to impress once again. But they did just enough to see of Ecuador.
J Cole had a few moments to impress. But he was largely ineffective.
A Cole was the savior. Undoubtedly. England would have been in a hole if not for him. But who knows? England might have kicked into life if that shot had gone in and we might have seen an exceptional English comeback.
Becks was the match winner. His free kick was superb. He defended brilliantly after his goal. There was no lacking in his commitment. He made his critics eat their words. I should say.
Lamps was at his profligate best. I could only wallow in misery seeing Lamps shake his head after that woeful miss. He needs to clear his head and shake off his demons. Come on Lamps!!
Gerrard wasn’t that talismanic today surprisingly. But he did pull off exquisite crosses and his odd shots.
Roo dint get enough ammunition to fire. But he showed his genius foxing defenders and carving out ingenious passes.
Rio had a good match. Terry had a slightly shaky match.
Carrick did justice to his holding role. Carragher was good when he came on.
On the whole, England dint create that many chances. And even if they created chances, Lamps wasted them. The fact that the goal was a set piece is a subtle reminder that the Three Lions need to improve by leaps and bounds in order to match the Portuguese (who are the Brazilians of Europe with their subtle technique).
After watching Portugal-Holland Battle Royale, I was smiling evilly though. Reason?? England will play a largely second string Portuguese team. Muhahahahaha!!! Wait for the next blog!!