Tough on England as Russia win "Battle of the Plastic Pitch"
Wednesday, 17 October 07, 12:07 PM · Comments(6)
Despite taking an early lead through a Wayne Rooney stunner, England succumbed 2-1 away in Russia, once again putting their qualification hopes in doubt.
The English media once again had a case of premature ejaculation after the Israel game, and things were brought quite heavily down to earth today.
However, the English will be aggrieved at the way Russia equalised. Wayne Rooney clearly comitted a professional foul, tugging the shirt of the player who had stolen in on the left to race onto a throughball, but he seemed to have done so well outside the box. However the momentum of both players was carrying them forward, and they both flew to the ground in the penalty area. I would say that it was clearly NOT a penalty, and it definitely looked worse than it was. Rooney though can have no complaint over his yellow card.
This all happened during a sustained period of Russian pressure. In the first half England had been the dominant force. coming to terms with the difficult conditions, and playing intelligently and commitedly. Then Michael Owen won a header, flicking the ball onto Rooney, who controlled it on his chest before thumping a powerful, dipping volley over the Russian keeper's head. The defender nearest to him seemed to be convinced that it was a handball, but the replays confirmed that it was his chest.
The game was cat-and-mousey, but it all changed in the second half. With about 30 minutes left, the ineffective Alexandr Kerzhakov was taken off for Roman Pavlutjenko, and it was the latter who scored both goals.
First came the "penalty" in the 69th minute, which was at the start of a period of sustained Russian pressure. And the Russians kept swarming the English goal. They surged forward, switching the ball around at pace, and making very, very good use of the wide players (as Hiddink loves to do). They never forced the play, they never thumped in tons of speculative crosses, instead they concentrated on keeping possession around the England penalty area. Their passing and movement gave time for the midfielders and fullbacks to run up and join the attack, and when they finally did cross or pass the ball, it seemed almost like a post set-piece scramble in the England box.
4 minutes after their equaliser, Russia had the lead. They passed, and waited, and passed and waited, and didn't rush their shooting chances, even though several of them could have made speculative shots. Eventually Robinson had to save, and since the box was loaded with Russian players, one of them managed to break free and react first to the rebound. Once again it was Pavlutjenko, poking the ball past a lumbering Robinson, and static defence.
So that's it, 2-1 to Russia. They are just two points behind England (23) now, with a game in hand. The next two fixtures are difficult: Israel vs Russia, and England vs. Croatia. Let's see what happens.
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The pitch had nothing to do with the loss England suffered. They did not play well and deserved the loss. Overall England do not deserve to qualify for Euro 2008
Well, I agree with the fact that the penalty should not have been given. But, there's nothing we can do about that. When a referree makes a call, 99.9% of the time, he is going to stick with his
decision and tell the arguing players around him, to move along. We all have to deal with things like that. But, as for England's performance... well, there is absolutely no way on this planet, that
you can blame the pitch. I've played plenty of games on plastic, artifical turfs, and I have never had a bad game on one of them. You win some and you lose some. That's football. It has nothing to do
with what pitch you play on. As bigjuventus fan said, England played HORRIBLY and they deserved the loss, even if they were cheated by a non-penalty. England are very, very, very overrated and at
this point... they do not deserve to qualify for anything. Send Russia instead.
Uhh, please stop comparing yourself to professional footballers A_M, or actually don't, because it's kind of hilarious. Those pitches completely take the life out of you when you have to cover 10 km
in a game, and are playing at a high intensity. I wouldn't say the pitch was the reason they lost, but you could clearly see that in the second half the fatigue set in much faster for the English.
You can't say they played horribly, because that wasn't the case in the first half, but the Russians swarmed them in the second half. They needed a proper full-back out on the left, and they weren't
too well organised, but there were several factors to blamefor the loss (the pitch, the penalty, the tactics), but the penalty was the most significant. Awful decision. England are massively,
massively overrated though, I agree on that.
I'm just saying, SM, I've played on plenty of plastic fields and none of them had an affect on my game. I know that the games I play are NOTHING like what the pros do, but still.... the pitch has
nothing to do with their loss. It was the penalty that decided England's fate. It was very awful, but as fans of the game... we got to deal with things like this.
6 Comments · Add yours
Why did England lost the match with the Russians? "It was the pitch" English Fan.
i truly belive " there is no more ecuador on football" so england probably had a bad day :O(