Euro 2012: Handball? He might as well have caught it
Records are there to be broken and England duly broke one at Wembley in their Euro 2012 qualifier against Montenegro.
Ever since they had been handed the keys – after the builders had been and gone – in 2007 the senior national team had never failed to score in 20 previous matches at the new Wembley. Oh well.
The bottom seeds of Group G, rated behind the might that is Burkina Faso in the Fifa rankings and with a population the size of Leeds, Montenegro may have rolled up to Wembley with a game plan that was based mainly on parking the bus but England went through much of the first half with all the zip of a clapped out Reliant Robin.
Attempts on the Montenegro goal had been high, wide and some downright ugly – which was matched by some of the Montenegro tackling – but with an hour gone England finally began to look as though they had worked out how to tackle the problem of scoring a goal. Yet still without actually scoring one.
Probably the only man with a tougher task than that faced by Fabio Capello, as he tried to explain what went wrong, was the bloke charged with the task of picking a man of the match – although if he was picking from the Montenegro side then Mladen Bozovic, the goalkeeper, and Milan Jovanović, the left-back who clearly handled in his and then hit the cross-bar from outside of England’s for what would have been an outrageous winner, would probably have been high on the list.
“We create four or five chances to score goals,” Capello said. “The ‘keeper saves every time; but it’s not easy to play against a team like this when they’re defending very well, waiting always across the box.
“We create five chances to score goals,” he said, repeating one of the few positives. “They shot once to the goal and the ball went to the bar. I think it was not an easy game because they are a team who are really, really difficult to beat.”
On a night when smiles were about as rare as hen’s teeth the mention of the handball that never was, at least according to referee Manuel Grafe (no Grafe, not Gaffe), drew something that was a half-brother to a grimace from the England coach. “I don’t like to speak about the referees,” he said. “I never speak about the referees.
“Only thing was not good because five substitutions, twice the physio went to the pitch only three minutes [of added time] was not correct for me. The other thing is the referee’s decision.”
Having been handed back the captaincy, Rio Ferdinand emerged as the face of the England team to face the music which was the inevitable accompaniment to a draw which, while not fatal to England’s chances of qualification for the finals, did little to breathe life into belief in the national side that had taken such a battering in the World Cup finals in the summer.
In fact Ferdinand came out with more attacking purpose than had been shown on the pitch for much of the time. “They hit the bar late on but, up until then, we were on the front foot trying to create chances. The ‘keeper made a couple of good saves and it seemed like it was just going to be his day.”
If Capello preferred not make a comment on the handball, his captain was more forthcoming. “He might as well have caught it and put it under his shirt. I’m surprised the linesman on that side didn’t see it but that’s what happens and you’ve got to get on with it.”
Which is exactly what England have to do now, starting with an away match with Wales next March.
http://www.senore.com/Euro-2012-England-v-Montenegro-full-time-report-a33454
http://www.senore.com/Euro-2012-Scotland-fall-short-against-Spain-a33457
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