At the moment, the England team, most of the media in the country and their supporters want to focus on the positives after losing their World Cup semi-final against Croatia.
Which is understandable. They have enjoyed a memorable tournament and the time to hear some home truths probably isn’t just after such a bitter disappointment. Of course, they won’t want to hear that England lost for the same reasons as in past international tournaments. On Wednesday night, Gareth Southgate’s new England looked a lot like the old England we have seen fall short at tournaments in the past.
You won’t hear it on the BBC, Ian Wright wasn’t going to say on ITV last night and it won’t be on the front page of any newspaper, but the unfortunate truth is that England blew it. Harry Maguire was asked about the size of his head during an interview on the BBC, but you’re not likely to hear a pundit on the channel admit that England threw away the best chance they will ever have to reach a World Cup final. It was lost after they lost control against Croatia.
Zinger from Vrsaljko last night “The idea was that this is a new-look England who have changed their ways of punting long balls upfield, but when we pressed them it turned out that they haven’t.”
— Dermot Corrigan (@dermotmcorrigan) July 12, 2018
Luka Modric is one of the best players in the world, and Croatia are a talented side. But they were on the ropes in the first half. Looking slow on the turn and tired after two games in a row that went to extra-time, Croatia struggled to cope with England’s blistering pace. Even Kieran Trippier’s goal after five minutes didn’t spark a response. Another England goal would surely have finished off their opponents. Instead, Croatia were allowed to get back into the game.
Gradually their passing improved, Modric got on the ball more and they targeted England’s right-hand side. Southgate’s side effectively stopped playing after half-time. They stopped pressing, they retreated and became disjointed. The patient passing football they practised earlier in the tournament, which won them corners from which they scored their goals, was completely disregarded. England lost their composure, stopped showing for passes and began lumping it long.
England were leading from the fifth minute against a side who had come through extra-time in their two previous games and still couldn’t finish the job. This isn’t a brave defeat. The uncomfortable truth is that they ultimately botched it and the old failings were on show.
- Their only route to goal was through a set-piece. When their passing broke down, this threat evaporated.
- There was no creativity in midfield.
- Their star player – Kane – underperformed but remained on the pitch.
- They struggled when the intensity was raised
- They lost their composure.
- They were completely outplayed by a technically superior side.
- They resorted to knocking it long.
- They were eliminated by the first very good team that they played at the tournament.
These were the same old shortcomings we have seen from England. These are the reasons they failed at past tournaments and are the reasons that Croatia, and not England, will play France on Sunday. It became the same old England in Moscow.
Without wanting to be cruel, two players summed-up England’s limitations and loss of control – Kyle Walker and Jordan Henderson.
Firstly, Walker appeared to malfunction when Croatia took control of the game. It could even be argued that the game turned after 54-minutes when the Manchester City defender was booked for attempting to waste time.
Running down the clock is a professional thing to do in a knockout match when defending a lead. But in the final few minutes, not just after half-time. England were clearly rattled. Croatia’s goal through Ivan Perisic after 68-minutes had been coming. Southgate’s defence broke down and did so again in extra-time. Mario Mandzukic, who had barely been able to stand a few minutes previously, crept in behind England’s static backline and finished past Jordan Pickford. Unlike Denmark and Russia, England couldn’t take Croatia to a penalty shootout.
In the past, England failed in penalty shootouts because they were let down by their technique, decision-making and composure. Henderson failed in these aspects on Wednesday night. He was evidently instructed to get the ball forward quickly, which made sense, as Raheem Sterling’s pace was causing trouble for Croatia. However, his passes weren’t always accurate.
When the game was in the balance, and Croatia took control, Henderson’s decision-making also got worse. Here he had an opportunity to pass the ball into Jesse Lingard’s path as England looked to catch Croatia on the counter-attack.
Henderson didn’t even look to his teammate and just hoofed it in the direction of Marcus Rashford.
Two minutes later, Henderson did spot him unmarked in the penalty area. He had the chance to slide a pass into Lingard’s feet and he would have been one on one with the Croatian goalkeeper.
Instead, the Liverpool midfielder ballooned his pass so badly that he found the head of the defender Ivan Strinic.
When he got the ball back, Henderson ignored the four England players close-by and took a shot so rushed it almost looked like he was trying to clear the ball.
Like at past at tournaments, these are examples of poor technique and decision-making from England players under intense pressure. There were worse performers than Walker and Henderson – it might come out over the next few days that Kane was carrying an injury because he looked miles off the pace.
And they aren’t being singled out here to rub salt into the wounds. But if England are to progress and bounce back from this painful defeat, then they will need to recognise and work on these shortcomings.
Here are England's open play shots at the World Cup.
In 10 hours of play, they only had six shots on target, and one of those was a deflection off Kane's heel. pic.twitter.com/br2HU0Hauh— Andrew Beasley (@BassTunedToRed) July 11, 2018
However, regardless of how much they improve over the next few years, England will surely never have such a favourable draw again. They came through an easy group, landed on the weaker side of the draw and beat Colombia – who had lost their best player to injury – on penalties. After getting past a limited and slow Sweden, they played against a country with a smaller population than Ireland for a place in a World Cup final. They had a 1-0 lead over a tired team and still lost.
Overall, there are many more positives than negatives for England from the World Cup campaign. But, ultimately, they missed the best chance they’ll probably ever have to reach the final, and did so because of the same failings we’ve seen from England teams over the years.
None of the players from the last England team to reach a World Cup semi-final ever played at the competition again. The Netherlands team that finished third at the World Cup four years ago haven’t reached a tournament since. The semi-final against Croatia was a once in a generation opportunity for England, and they let it slip.
