A great performance….but not many saw it!

In my opinion, the England football team gave a great performance on Wednesday night, their best match for a very long time.  Remembering the fact that Croatia had never lost a home fixture since their independence (35 games ago), and that we played so poorly against them (home and away) in the European Championship qualifiers, this makes the result even better than at first glance.

 

It was one of those matches where everyone seemed to be playing to a high level – Heskey held the ball up well, Rooney was back to his best (having previously been criticised for only scoring two international goals since Euro 2004) and Theo Walcott showed that he has got what it takes to be an England striker, after being introduced on to the international scene too soon during the last World Cup – I just hope that our Nation’s hopes aren’t put onto his shoulders at such an early stage in his career.

 

All four goals showed that we do have the necessary skills and abilities when required and there was some great link-up play between the attacking players.  The best moment of the match for me was Lampard’s goal (prior to realising it had been disallowed) – it was great to see such flowing, one-touch football from someone other than the usual continental/South American teams. After some thought, I now favour Fat Frank to Stevie Gerrard…..for the time being at least.

 

It was only a pity that we scraped a nervy win against Andorra a matter of days before an altogether improved match. Presumably, we rose to the occasion when necessary and did not need to do this against such a weaker team.

 

Whilst writing this blog I should point out that I, unfortunately, only managed to see the second half of the match, as it took me about an hour to get find a local pub that has Setanta!  It is an appalling situation when, due to the greed of broadcasting companies, the majority of the nation are unable to watch the match or even get half an hour of highlights – surely international matches (at the very least) should be shown live on terrestrial TV.

How can it be that less than 3 million people saw our best game for years???!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Chance of a Lifetime

Mike Carabine

At the March committee meeting the club I have played for over 25 years, Beacon Hill Rovers, decided to nominate ourselves for the County Charter Standard Club of the Year for Essex more in hope than expectation.

 

The Scheme looks at both the playing and non-playing aspects of a club, so as well as coaching it covers child protection, administration, disciplinary and development. The Scheme is open to ALL clubs below league level, so locally we were potentially up against Braintree Town, Witham Town, Chelmsford City and the like. So imagine our delight when in June we were invited to the Waterfront to collect the County award.

 

Part of the award offered three lucky Under-10’s the chance of a lifetime to carry out one of the pre-match flags before the crucial England Under-21 qualifier against Portugal on Friday 5^th September. Imagine my pride therefore when my son was one of the three chosen to carry out this duty. As soon as he found out, he phoned everyone he knew to tell them – his excitement turned up to 11.

On the day the Essex FA had laid on a coach for all the boys and accompanying adults, arriving at Wembley in plenty of time before their duties were due to start. For those of you who have not had the pleasure of going to the new stadium, I must recommend it. As you approach by road it looks a fantastic sight, the Arch more than making up for the loss of the Twin Towers. After leaving the boys to get their kit sorted, have a tour of the stadium, eat and then have a practice of what they would be doing later, the adults were treated to a pleasant meal at the Wembley Plaza Hotel, again courtesy of the Essex FA.

Upon our entry into the stadium we were shown to our seats above the corner flag. What struck me was, despite its size, the arena seems quite small, an effect of the extended roof constructions most of the way round. The consequence of this is that you feel closer to the action than you really are.

7.35pm: As the teams take to the pitch, the first flag out of the tunnel is a blue “Respect” banner, supporting the new FA campaign to encourage players, coaches and spectators not to harangue and abuse match officials. Immediately we spot that the three bearers our end are the members of our club – little old Beacon Hill; on the pitch; at Wembley! They carry out their duties without falling over or kicking Ricardo Vaz Te and are brought back to sit with us for the game.

To be honest for much of the first half the boys would have been better off still under the stands, as the match was pretty dire. Considering Portugal needed to win to top the Group, they made no real effort to get forward. England played with Gaby Agbonlahor up front on his own supported by a midfield five. For this to work effectively you either have to get it in to the frontman’s feet and play off him or get the two wide men playing in more advanced positions and playing almost as wingers. For most of the first 45 minutes we managed to do neither very well, but just before half-time a soft penalty was awarded to England, which James Milner tucked away.

My only cause for a moan during the whole day came at the half-time interval. The cost of refreshments at Wembley has been well publicised, so I was prepared for the extortionate prices. However what did come as a shock was the speed of service and the fact that when we did finally get to the front of the queue half the menu was off! All this on a crowd of just over 27,000 – so what must it be like on Cup Final day?!!

The second half saw a better performance and when Mark Noble slid a great through ball to Mr A, who then finished casually, it was game over. Portugal eventually mustered a couple of efforts, which Joe Hart coped with easily, leaving England 2-0 winners to finish top of the Group. In a strange twist, this does not guarantee a place in the finals as there is a two-legged play-off before that.

I must commend the FA with regard to ticket pricing for this game, with it being only £10 for adults and a fiver for children. Given that most of the England side were regular performers in the Premier League, and the importance of the match, I thought that was good value and would consider going again in the future. Even better for me, the England side selected included players from a number of clubs not just the three or four that dominate the main England team.    

On the way back on the coach we had a bunch of tired but elated children, who were soon fast asleep. Although their enjoyment of the whole experience was clearly immense, I don’t think that at that age they can appreciate what an honour it was for them and how lucky they were to get the opportunity. Hopefully in years to come, when they look back and remember 5^th September 2008 they will.