England labour to World Cup warm-up victory over Mexico
Although the two giant screens proudly showed the 3-1 scoreline at Wembley last night, the hard-to-please England manager Fabio Capello had every right to be concerned by his side’s overall performance against the Mexicans.
England failed to get a stronghold on the game - particularly during the first half - with Mexico looking far more assured in possession, more creative and considerably less nervous.
For Capello, this was his penultimate chance to see whether the fringe players in his 30-man squad were capable of stepping up to the plate. The likes of Michael Carrick, Theo Walcott and Leighton Baines were all handed a starting berth, and all were eager to impress in England’s final match on home soil before the World Cup finals.
However, the England boss would have been disappointed with the overall performances of Carrick and Baines, who both made a series of sloppy mistakes. Also in the same category of “may miss out on South Africa” include Tom Huddlestone, who came on during the second half and failed to make an impression, and unused substitutes Scott Parker, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Michael Dawson, Matthew Upson and Stephen Warnock.
The manner in which Mexico took the game to England and were then allowed to control proceedings was a worrying sight for the 85,000-plus home supporters packed inside Wembley. In total, Javier Aguirre’s side managed to get 23 shots off on the England goal – occupied by Robert Green in the first half and then Joe Hart in the second – and mustered a pass completion of 88%.
Compare this to England’s paltry eight shots, along with an equally unimpressive 77% pass completion; and the stats painted a far clearer picture of the match itself than the scoreline would have us believe.
In the build-up to last night’s friendly, Capello conceded that the result itself was not entirely important – but that the performance was. Unfortunately for the Italian, the reverse seemed to be the case on the night with goals being scored, albeit in unconvincing fashion.
It’s true that the absence of several key players including Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and John Terry was a factor for the lack of fluidity, though; and getting the uncharacteristic mistakes out the way before the World Cup starts will have also been preferable in the eyes of the England manager.
But it’s the distinct lack of strength in depth which will keep Capello awake at night between now and South Africa. By now, he will have his starting line-up for the USA match on June 12th predetermined in his head - keeping those 11 fit for the duration of the finals will be his biggest challenge.
One of the night’s big winners was Peter Crouch, who got himself on the England scoresheet once again and assisted Ledley King’s opener. The Tottenham striker’s all-round performance will have given Capello a real selection headache before setting off for South Africa in a week’s time. Whether the Italian will start with Crouch or Heskey upfront this summer alongside Rooney could be determined by Heskey’s display against Japan on Sunday afternoon.
Meanwhile, King’s defensive display was relatively solid after a shaky start. Walcott’s pace and willingness to take on the Mexican defenders was a major positive, as was Aaron Lennon’s brief cameo.
Elsewhere, Green and Hart both produced two solid goalkeeping displays either side of half-time, with the West Ham keeper in particular making two brilliant saves to effectively secure the England number one jersey this summer.
And Glen Johnson capped a fine performance at right-back with a sensational individual goal, which acted as a timely reminder of what the Liverpool full-back is capable of offering.
But these were merely a handful of individual triumphs, rather than a team success. On the whole, England looked disjointed and failed to show the rest of the world why they should be considered genuine World Cup contenders this summer.
Mr. Capello, it’s over to you again.
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