Somewhere, unnoticed among the mêlée of grim-faced England players and happy young Germans, there was a potential scapegoat to be found. Somewhere in the bowels of the Free State Stadium was the Uruguayan linesman who had turned a blind eye in England’s hour of need, but nobody, whether from the FA or the press, had the energy or the temerity to hunt him down.
In the past, there has always been a convenient scapegoat or at least a target for English frustration — Peter Bonetti, Diego Maradona, David Beckham, Phil Neville, Cristiano Ronaldo or Urs Meier, the Swiss referee — but serial failure demands us to look deeper. It is not about them. It is about us.
Fabio Capello cannot be blamed for directing his ire at Mauricio Espinosa, the man who kept his flag down when the rest of us saw Frank Lampard’s shot bounce down off the crossbar and at least two feet over the goalline in the 38th minute. He was right to call it an “incredible” decision and one that denied his team at the very point they had momentum, having just reduced the arrears to 2-1, but Capello has not been in England long enough to realise that it cannot just be through bad luck that Germany have progressed farther at every World Cup since 1966.
Of course it had to be the Germans, England’s nemeses at the 1970 and 1990 World Cups and in the Euro ’96 semi-final. But, really, it could have been anyone. England have been a sad case at this World Cup: unimpressive in drawing with the United States, awful against Algeria, mediocre in victory over Slovenia and when the time came to raise their game yesterday, they were outclassed, out-thought and even outfought by Mesut Özil, Thomas Müller and the rest of Joachim Löw’s dynamic young Germany team.
Really, it was embarrassing at times, as Özil, a 21-year-old with balletic poise and a silky touch, repeatedly danced away from the challenges of Gareth Barry and Lampard and threaded beautifully weighted balls through to Müller, Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski. As for John Terry and Matthew Upson, their travails at the heart of the England defence called to mind that wonderful phrase written in these pages by the late Geoffrey Green in November 1953, when he likened Billy Wright’s pursuit of Ferenc Puskas to “a fire engine going to the wrong fire”.
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Like that resounding 6-3 defeat by Hungary, as described by Green 57 years ago, this was a story of two teams: one living in the past and the other representing the future. Germany may or may not advance against Argentina in Cape Town on Saturday, but their victory yesterday serves as another unwanted milestone in the history of the England football team, a reminder of how far behind the rest of the world we have fallen while congratulating ourselves on the undisputed global appeal of the Premier League.
Some of us dared to imagine that it would be different in Bloemfontein, but from the moment that Özil got behind Terry in the fifth minute, hitting a shot that David James saved awkwardly, such predictions were being revised. When Löw talked afterwards about his game plan, about penetrating the space between England’s midfield and back four and sucking Terry and Upson out of position, it sounded as straightforward as it had looked when it was put into practice by Özil, Müller and Bastian Schweinsteiger.
One big regret for England was that the opening goal, on 20 minutes, was so avoidable. A goal kick by Manuel Neuer was misjudged by Terry and raced on to by Klose, with Upson trailing in his wake. Klose beat James with ease and, in doing so, scored his 50th international goal — more than any Englishman in history.
Klose might have scored a second goal moments later, after Özil found a way through yet again, but for England the reprieve was temporary. Once again it was a free-flowing move of the type rarely associated with recent Germany teams — Özil to Klose to Müller — as they worked the ball into a position to find Podolski with time and space to shoot past James.
Embarrassment loomed, but, for a time, it was averted as Upson reduced the deficit to 2-1, rising above Neuer to head home from Steven Gerrard’s cross. A minute later, with Germany on the back foot, Lampard’s looping shot beat Neuer, bounced down off the crossbar and clearly crossed the line before bouncing out again. Quite how Espinosa and the other match officials failed to spot this, only they know. Talk of German revenge for 1966 notwithstanding, there will rarely be a better advertisement for the introduction of goalline technology.
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It was a turning point in the game, meaning that England were always at the risk of being caught on the counter-attack as they pushed forward in ever greater desperation in the second half. For a time they threatened — Lampard rattling the crossbar with a free kick, Neuer saving well at the feet of Jermain Defoe, James Milner having a shot blocked by Jérôme Boateng — but Germany’s defence, supposedly their Achilles’ heel, stood firm and, all the while, Özil drifted into the huge spaces that England were leaving at the back.
As England poured forward in ever greater numbers, a free kick by Lampard was blocked, Barry took a heavy touch and, within seconds, Germany were away. Schweinsteiger got away from Glen Johnson and, as he advanced, released Müller to beat James at the near post. Three minutes later it was 4-1 as Özil again waltzed away from Barry and down the left wing before cutting inside and picking out Müller, who knocked the ball past the exposed James with ease.
Capello talked about the injustice, but when he goes back through the DVD of the game, he will ask himself if he ever saw such a brainless, naive, indisciplined performance from his teams at AC Milan, Juventus, Roma and Real Madrid.
Capello can rail about Señor Espinosa all he likes, but as Gerrard put it, “for me to stand here and say that’s the reason we got beat would be a lie”. That does not make Capello a liar. It just makes him less familiar than the rest of us with the failings that go rather deeper than a myopic linesman.
The worst of the worst . . .
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England’s defeat yesterday was their heaviest at a World Cup finals and one of only three by more than a one-goal margin
England’s biggest World Cup defeats
Germany 4 England 1, round of 16, yesterday: One-paced side succumb to counter-attacking as officials fail to spot that a shot by Frank Lampard had crossed the line.
Brazil 3 England 1, quarter-final, June 10, 1962: Garrincha, the Brazil winger, scores twice and sets up the other goal for the eventual winners.
Uruguay 4 England 2, quarter-final, June 26, 1954: Nat Lofthouse and Tom Finney are on target, but England are well beaten.
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Words by Bill Edgar