No goal in almost 450 minutes of open play and now relegated, it’s hard to accuse England of peaking too early for World CupWell, it’s a weird World Cup anyway. Does it count? Just a thought, but is it actually too late to boycott? Norway did the T-shirts you know.For Gareth Southgate and England this was another stumbling step towards Qatar 2022. What is the ideal, the perfect prep for these four-yearly moments of destiny anyway? How about not scoring a goal for almost 450 minutes of open play? Can we spin it? How about getting relegated, as England now have been, oddly enough? At the very least it would be hard to accuse Southgate’s team of peaking too early,...
Midfielder has his moments in stalemate with Italy but it is not enough to justify the public clamour for his inclusionWhat did we learn? How did it feel? What were the bullet points, the red lines, the notes of glory in this goalless Nations League international in an empty stadium between two teams who spent long periods of this game struggling against some invisible plane of resistance, like flies buzzing down a window pane?As competitive games go this one stretched the semantic limits of the word “competitive” into some interesting new spaces. At times it felt like a late July club tour practice game. As the ball was shuttled sullenly around the back of midfield you half expected to look...
The Sassuolo striker’s brilliant goals against Milan and Napoli this week have bolstered his case to be the national team’s No 9Gianluca Scamacca had a vision for how he wanted this season to play out. Asked in August whether he could earn a role for Italy at next year’s World Cup, the Sassuolo striker demurred, reminding the interviewer from Gazzetta dello Sport that he was still in the under-21s.“One step at a time,” said Scamacca. “But if I manage to play out the season that I have in my mind, the opportunity will arrive.” Continue reading...
Gareth Southgate’s choice of formation was understandable but there was no doubt England lacked creativityAs England dropped deeper and deeper in the second half, as they succumbed to the same problem holding a lead that had beset them against Colombia and Croatia at the World Cup, the temptation was to wonder if anything had really changed. Why is it that England so often take the lead in big games and so often end up turning in on themselves, as though every battle must be turned into a re-enactment of General Gordon’s defence of Khartoum?But perhaps that is unfair, or at least to oversimplify the issue. That England failed to hold a lead – again – does not mean that caution...
The manager has much to be proud of but the failings of tournaments past came back to halt England against ItalyThere was no escaping history in the end. Twenty-five years on, England’s past caught up with them. There was no fairytale ending. No redemption. This time it was Bukayo Saka who felt the ground fall from under his feet, who buried his face in his shirt, who experienced the agony Gareth Southgate felt when he missed the vital spot-kick against Germany during Euro 96. Related: England’s charming lads separated from glory by the finest of margins | Jonathan Liew Related: ‘Mancini has been absolutely wonderful’: praise for manager as Rome unites behind Italy Continue reading...