Defoe lifts England just high enough

THE RAIN clouds vanished here yesterday with the sun returning to shine brightly on England’s revitalised team. After all the drama and disappointment of their opening two games, Fabio Capello’s men finally played well and nearly managed to top their group. In the end, only Landon Donovan’s late, late goal in Pretoria denied them top spot and, far more cruelly, Slovenia a place in the tournament’s last 16.

“This was the team I knew and the spirit I remember from the qualification games,” said Capello afterwards. “For us it was very important to win and we won. I saw a team that played very well on the pitch with a spirit we had lacked in the games before. The performance was very good and we created a lot of chances to score the second goal although naturally it was a little worrying towards the end because sometimes you can draw or lose a game like this from nothing.”

Having seen his side battle hard but spurn a couple of clear-cut chances late on to grab the equaliser that would have put them through, Matjaz Kek, was dignified in defeat. “I’ve come a long way with Slovenia,” he said, “but in sport you can gain but you can also lose. Of course, our players are very disappointed but I hope in time they come to realise what they have achieved here. I hope England win the World Cup now because they are a very good team and for me they are favourites.”

Whatever might lie ahead for their team (and elimination around the quarter-finals does still seem a more likely fate than outright success), the England fans, who must have made up close to 90 per cent of the 38,693-strong crowd in the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, had arrived expecting a major improvement on Friday’s lifeless showing against Algeria. Within minutes of the kick-off it started to become clear they were not going to be disappointed.

Though the English defence looked a little shaky early on, Wayne Rooney quickly began to display the energy and urgency that had been absent from his performances in the opening two games while Jermain Defoe was a lurking rather lumbering presence around the opposition area.

Matthew Upson’s initial touches were best forgotten, and he was the least successful change made by the manager but in just about every other department this was a faster, fiercer England with James Milner firing on all cylinders down the right, Frank Lampard far more influential through the centre and the full-backs showing an impressive capacity to get forward in support of the wide men.

Perhaps the most menacing aspect of the English attack was Steven Gerrard’s darting runs towards the area from the left and the skipper’s fine link-up play with Rooney. However, the opening goal originated on the other flank with Milner providing an exquisite curling cross from the right that Defoe reached ahead of Marko Suler to turn past Samir Handanovic from close range.

Minutes later England came within a whisker of replicating the goal but this time the Slovenian goalkeeper prevented the ball getting as far as Defoe. Handanovic, indeed, was his side’s best performer over the match making some fine saves, most memorably a reaction stop from a close-range John Terry header and fingertip save from Rooney, both shortly after the break.

Rooney started to fade from much that point on, even seeming to limp at times and departed looking unhappy not long after the midway point in the second half to be replaced, to the obvious delight of the crowd, by Joe Cole.

By then, Capello, who said Rooney had a minor ankle injury but insisted he would return for the game in Bloemfontein, required Cole to reignite the attacking side of the team’s game slightly for having survived a fairly steady stream of scoring chances of one type or another through the first hour, Slovenia had been under less pressure for a while and suddenly looked capable of grabbing something at the other end.

Unfortunately for Kek, almost all of their chances seem to fall to Valter Birsa, the right-sided attacking midfield who had probably been their best player against the US.

This time he was terribly poor, squandering possession in promising positions with tame long-range efforts, wasting a couple of free-kicks and, critically, missing the target when presented with his side’s best scoring opportunity immediately after Milivoje Novakovic and Zlatko Dedic had seen their efforts from inside the box blocked down by Terry and Glen Johnson respectively.

On the few occasions he was called into action, goalkeeper David James looked assured, his performance comfortably justifying the manager’s decision to draft him on for Robert Green.

Capello, indeed, suddenly looks like a man with cause for some confidence ahead of Sunday’s return to action. Unaware in the immediate aftermath of this win who might provide the opposition in the next round, the Italian claimed he was unconcerned. “There are good teams but if we want to go forward then we have to beat other teams. It’s not important what the names are.”

If his side plays like this again in Bloemfontein, there might be half a chance he’s right.