ENGLAND START their qualification campaign to reach the World Cup in Brazil tonight with the captain, Steven Gerrard, urging his players to retain faith in their quality and reminding them that, should they reach the finals, “miracles do happen”.
Roy Hodgson will name an experienced line-up for their opening Group H fixture against Moldova, who are ranked 141 in the world, with Michael Carrick expected to make a first competitive appearance since October 2009 alongside Frank Lampard and Gerrard.
The Liverpool midfielder acknowledged that, while England must be considered outsiders to become the first European side to claim a World Cup on South American soil, he can see reasons for optimism should the team qualify for the finals.
“When I speak I’m realistic and honest: at the moment, we’re not one of the favourites to win the World Cup,” Gerrard said. “But that doesn’t mean you stop believing or stop working hard to try and improve and learn from the mistakes you’ve made at previous tournaments. This team has every chance to improve and get better over the next few years, with players coming through and other players who boast experience in the squad. We have to have that faith and keep believing. Miracles do happen in football. That’s been proved.
“This is possibly my last [qualification] campaign and we can safely say this is definitely my last World Cup, that’s for sure. I’m at that age where I need to make all the time count and give it my best shot. Let’s try and make the most of it.”
Hodgson intends to rely upon his elder statesmen to propel England to the finals in Brazil, allowing younger players to make their mark around the nucleus of an experienced spine. Lampard, Gerrard, John Terry and Carrick will be 36, 34, 33 and 33 respectively in two years’ time, and other squad players likely to be considered in the qualification campaign – Gareth Barry, Ashley Cole, Scott Parker, Phil Jagielka, Joleon Lescott and Jermain Defoe – will also be well into their 30s.
England trained at the Zimbru Stadium last night and, after initial scepticism about the surface, ended the session relatively satisfied. James Milner, Theo Walcott and Lescott departed early but none is thought to be doubtful for the game.
Hodgson seems determined to go about the task of qualifying for Rio without paying undue attention to fashionable approaches to tactics and formations; against Moldova tonight we may be given a clearer idea of whether he is any closer to making a permanent shift from his beloved 4-4-2 to something more flexible.
The manager raised a few eyebrows last week by directing a measure of scepticism at the modish belief in possession as the sine qua non of football success, and an over-reliance on statistics in general. At 65, he said, he was not prepared “to have the wool pulled over my eyes”.
In Chisinau last night, he expanded on his beliefs, giving the strong impression that when it comes to evaluating a player’s performance or designing a tactical framework, he would rather trust his eyes and his experience.
Statistical analysis, he said, was useful in terms of physical preparation. “We get lots of useful information in terms of the distances and speed people run, and about the time they spend in their red zone. But I’ve never taken notice of possession statistics or shot statistics because, in my opinion, a lot of the biggest moments of danger don’t feature in any statistics.
“A speculative 40-yard shot that the goalkeeper chests down easily is down as a shot on target, while a ball that whizzes across the six-yard box a millimetre away from a forward’s boot doesn’t exist. So I’m very sceptical about those things.
“If you want to base arguments on statistics, you need to be more nuanced about it. When a player comes to you after a game and says, ‘I had a great game, I made 32 passes and didn’t miss one,’ you always have to ask the question, ‘Okay, how many did you play forward?’”
Guardian Service
