Croatia v. England 1-4 10/Sep/08

Young Gunner Theo Walcott made an impressive performance with a hat-trick, after his second international cap, against what appeared to be the revenge of the EURO elimination. The Croatians looked far beyond the level showed in the previous tournament when a nervous England side arrived the hostile Zagreb located stadium. Here is a review of the "overtalented England" by Brewin. The English side suffered to get the score-sheet to four, nonetheless the suffering against Andorra and the Catenaccio reminiscence in any Capello's team means that although it was an impressive display, Capello has to work really hard to get his team play with such regularity. Brewin might have a little to emotional about this aspect but the fact that the English side gained fairly is undoubtful.





The First half began with an unprecedent aggressive Croatian side. As stated before the English side was entirely nervous with the home side dominating the first twenty minutes. Naturally the push was slowed, and calm came back to English possession through Lampard's effort. After the 25' Corluka's runs began to slow and in the opposite side, Walcott began his show. In that same minute he found himself on-side to finish crossed-post after a complete disaster in the Croatian center back. Still the English side earned possession throughout the entire half, leading to several chances. Fernando Palomo, quoted several times in this blog, put the final word on Graham Poll's World Cup controversy. The Agentinian assured that due to the Australian accent of Simunic he mistook it with the Australian number 3 rather than Croatian. If you remember well Mr. Poll booked three times, yes three times, Simunic before showing him the red card. Funny facts about footy.

Regarding Wayne Rooney Frank Lampard quoted:"Wayne is not a scorer, is a creator." If we take this quote literally the sentence would not go far from a compliment but applied to the game this was entierly true in another sense. Wayne has become an accurate passer, the player that assists the scorer, the talented man than can turn the game with a single flip. His new position was re-acquired in Utd's last season. Ronaldo and Tevez appeared regularly in the score-sheet while Rooney sacrificed himself for the team throughout the season. This is one of the reasons behind Ronaldo 40 goal toll. In this sense he could become the "European link" something that here in America call "Enganche." We will have to wait until the development of the season if he could assure this tag, although he has made the two steps acquiring his new position; thinking in this new role, and having the number '10'.





Second half began with with the threat of Lampard free kick and also some nice overlappings by Rakitic. At 59' Theo scored a copycat goal after an elegant Rooney pass. England kept the pace and possession with Heskey support until Wayne scored with a rather common finish at 63'. If the Croatian side showed any signs of living there was one goal. At 81' the dream became true to the young gun when after a pass , who else but Rooney, and finished neatly with his left foot after a Pletikosa excellent exit.


In other news Tomas Rosicky' injury has extended. The current spell will keep him sidelined until early October. According to Cazech's coach he might not be available for some qualification rounds but I even doubt he could play until November. In any case is more likely that Eduardo reaches full match fitness rather than Rosicky. At least he would be out according to my prediction, ten months out, longer than an ACL/PCL injury. This situation must have take its toll at the Board, but as many Gooners this situation is turning from annoying and distressing to exasperating and abusive. I will forget to name him,in any case, in the 'if' list that tend to occur with Gunners each season.

Regarding Conmebol qualification neither Argentina nor Brazil can pull through according to what is expected in the early stages. Dunga's head may roll before he thinks due to the lack of performance by his side since the las Copa America. Mexico did not had a difficult time beating Canadians and the highlight of the match was the retirement of National side of Cuauhtemoc Blanco. The fact that Mr. Eriksson did not pull him earlier is a national debate around this place. That is for another post in which this blog will render tribute to Mexic0's most brilliant player since Manuel Negrete.

In other results an explosive performance from the Finnish gave Germany a 3 goal draw with an impressive hat-trick by Klose. Wales could have done better against a poorly attacking Russian side and Scotland grasped another late victory to wrap up major events on the International brake.