“Nice to hear your own fans boo ya’, that’s loyal supporters” was Rooney’s thoughts on the matter as boos rang out around the stadium. They came not just from travelling English fans but from many African neutrals who had expected so much more from big name players they would likely never get the chance to see play again. Were they right to boo? Well, they had just witnessed a performance from England so bereft of ideas and, even more criminally during a World Cup, bereft of passion that it seemed the only logical reaction. Rooney’s anger belies just how far divorced from reality English footballers are.
Of course, perhaps it is wrong to suggest that fans who have used their savings and large portions of their wages, meagre earnings compared to the world’s footballing elite, to travel to the other side of the world to watch their team play should be allowed to boo. I mean, the English are that used to jingoistic, blind patriotism that is displayed even in the face of abject failure. For proof of this you need only ask Tim Henman. It doesn’t help when the Sun declares the group to be the “easiest” England could have hoped for. The media’s lack of perspective and understanding of international football has only contributed to unreal expectations each international tournament.
Most people will agree that being allowed to express your views from the stands is the very least of what you are paying for. It would be wise then for England’s players to understand that something is desperately wrong and perhaps take stock of the situation instead of looking for lazy scapegoats in the form of the fans. Indeed, why not point the finger at the media that went out of their way to turn John Terry into the nervous mess he looks like at the back for England now, a nervousness that will surely spread if unchecked. He wasn’t the only player subject to the usual attempt to derail English preparations in a bid to sell newspapers and in truth the players should be used to it now.
The fans booed not because of the result, although that of course played its part. Had England scraped a victory the boos would still likely have rung out. Why? Because Algeria played the open and attacking football a squad of England’s capabilities should be achieving with ease. They strung together sequences of passes that moved well into the double digits, something England couldn’t match resorting to the “kick and chase” football Beckenbauer had rightly identified. Algeria treated it like a World Cup game and gave it their all – can the English truly say the same?
Not by a long stretch. What was more alarming than Rooney’s comments were those made by Steven Gerrard after the match where he put Algeria’s performance down to a match against England being “their cup final”. It is disrespectful comments such as these that expose the ego, arrogance and ignorance of those in the current England set-up. Algeria have won the African Cup of Nations, one trophy more than England have won since Gerrard has been involved with the national side. The African team were a revelation and showed England how a World Cup game should be approached. No credit to the opponents though, not from the players, the media and hardly any fans.
While such delusions are a contributory factor Fabio Capello seems to be proving once and for all that Italian managers will never grasp the English game. In a squad where only one striker has scored in the build up to the tournament– Peter Crouch – he leaves that player out, doesn’t pick the second highest English scorer in Darren Bent and insists on starting Emile Heskey, a player who has a scoring record eclipsed by some international goalkeepers. He leaves Scott Parker at home and takes the woeful Michael Carrick, wastes the youthful exuberance and engine of James Milner by playing him in a holding role and ignores the two most statisticlaly successful English goalkeepers in the form of Joe Hart and Paul Robinson. While the former may have made the squad – and in truth should be starting – the latter was not watched once by the international manager despite fine performances.
Most criminal of all? When a game cries out for someone to unlock the defence, Joe Cole is left on the bench. Under-appreciated by both club and country, Cole is a player who really must wonder what he has to do for his managers to acquire the same level of respect for his game as most neutral fans do.
Rooney might well spit and snarl, blame the fans and anyone else. He was the worst player on the pitch last night and probably knew it as he trudged off in one of his trademark tantrums. The other truth is that England looked average before the World Cup, no less than when they struggled against the South African premiership team Platinum Stars, and have carried that form into the tournament. The players might be surprised about the fans turning on them, but I’m not.