England Vs Argentina

Well, I thought that I might try writing something about the England Vs Argentina Match on the 1st July. Alright so here goes but I've got to say that it's less of a match commentary, more so about how I feel throughout the match.

I got ready for the match far earlier than the usual 2.50am I was used to on the other days. I had to prepare myself, I felt. Seems as if I were a soccer player getting all ready to go on the pitch to play or even a soccer fan going to the actual place to watch my favourite team play. But I was neither, well…only the fact that I am the soccer fan but I had to contend myself with sitting in the living room watching the game. This is a bit disappointing as I can't be there to feel the atmosphere which I believe would be tremendous.

I had settled down in the sit, thinking that Argentina would win but hoping that England would come up with something to make it their game. I had never watched the Argentines play but had believed, from hearsay that they were very good if not excellent. With likes like Ortega, Batistuta, I never doubted that the Argentines would lose but I had hope that they would.

Before the match, I kept thinking, perhaps if England had topped the game, if they had won Romania by bringing in Beckham and Owen early in that game, they would meet Croatia. But a few hours earlier, I saw Romania being beaten by Croatia, which of course goes to show that Croatia is a better team than Romania but Croatia was beaten by Argentina and I really wonder how England would defeat Argentina. Perhaps if England had met Croatia earlier while Romania played with the Argentines, then perhaps England might have beaten Croatia and would have gone on to meet Netherlands. Which means that I would get to see them play for another match and also that they would have a chance of advancing to the semis……. but somehow the chance of them doing so seems so small to me.

I was losing faith even before watching them play. How could I? And yet I call myself a fan of the English team. That is not how a fan should act! Losing faith even before the game started! But then again, should I be blamed for feeling that way? I guess not. The fact that England plays erratically and coupled with Hoddle's weird ( I call it weird because he should have chosen Beckham and Owen in the first 2 games in favour of the average Batty and aging Sherringham) choice of players in the first two games. Will Hoddle be weird again? Guess not. But will the players turn on their talents and go all out? Owen would, Shearer would. Would Neville be too defensive again? (He was in the first half of the Romania game where I didn't even see him move upfield at all, always saying behind). Would Le Saux have a great marker again so much so that you don't see him getting the balls to the strikers? Would Shearer be tightly marked again? ( He was in almost every match, he is tightly marked.) Would the defenders after watching Owen play mark Owen as tightly as they would against Shearer? These questions raced through my mind as I tried to settle myself in the comfort of my sofa but somehow there's this thing in me that says England won't win. But still I'll wait and watch the match.

It finally did and I was glad of it. I had wanted it to start quickly so that I would know the outcome of the match which I know and yet don't know.
The game started well and fine until a penalty was awarded to Argentina in the 6th minute. It should not have been a penalty! It wasn't a foul by Seaman! Good play acting by Simeone.
I dared not look. But when I did, I saw Batistuta take the kick and well it's a goal. I saw Seaman moving in the correct direction but yet could not push the ball away. It seems such an easy ball to push away or it seems so from my angle but yet he could not do it. I felt my heart sank. Never have I felt so passionate in a game, with the exception of perhaps the World Cup 94 where Roberto Baggio missed a penalty. Gosh I felt that the English team would never come off this as they have this thing about being disorganized and being in a frenzy when they let in the first goal.
But 4 minutes later, in the 10th minute of the game, Owen ran into the penalty box and was fouled by an Argentine. Penalty! Yes! I bowed to the referee's decision, such a wonderful referee. But I have to admit that from an angle, it doesn't seem like it should be a penalty. But then again different angles show different views (Give him the benefit of the doubt). It was payback or rather making amends for the mistake the referee had made earlier in his decision to award Argentina the penalty. Being awarded a penalty is one thing but scoring is another thing. Alan Shearer was to take it. Despite Shearer's record of penalty taking, I'm nervous and afraid, afraid that he might miss. But I think that the person who would be nervous would be him. He took it very calmly and yes! Bingo! It was a nice shot up the right top hand corner of the net. Yes , I thought now. England have the chance to fight back.

The Argentines tried to move forward, but was often stopped by Adams ,Campbell and Neville. Both teams seem evenly matched if not England looked more superior. So, the Argentineans were not as great as people said they were. Then the breakthrough came in the 16th minute with a solo effort from the 18 year old , Micheal Owen. Scholes was there but he far prefer to take the shot himself but not before moving and breaking away from the Argentinean defender. And yes! It is a wonderful shot at goal from him! A solo effort too. And he's only 18. Greater things lye ahead of him, I thought. If he had passed the ball to Scholes , I wonder if it would have been a goal.

The game continued as England fans celebrate. But somehow I can't help thinking that the Argentineans would equalize. And true to my belief, they did equalize. They were more aggressive in their attacks and England were caught scrambling a couple of times. But great job , I thought. Beckham was playing well, so was Ince and the rest of the team, especially the defenders and midfielders. They were playing much better then they did in their last 3 games. They made good use of Le Saux and I have to say that he's had a great day.
England had a lots of chances. Shearer missed one. Ince shot too high above the post. And Scholes shot went wide. Had Scholes shot went in, England would have made it 3-1. And there's a chance of them winning. But in the 45th minute, Argentina score. Darn.
Despite that I saw it as a great game and was expecting more in the 2nd half. Hoddle would change his tactics.

The second half started rather fine. But two minutes into the game, Beckham was fouled. Beckham was seen by the referee to have kicked Simeone. But I saw it differently. In Beckham's attempt to get up, he (Beckham) kicked on the Simeone. From TV replays, we see Beckham lying on his stomach and it seems that Beckham tried to get up and in his attempt to do so, he lifted his legs. This coupled with the fact that Simeone moved back and DRAMATICALLY fell down again is definitely not a foul. However the referee viewed this as a retaliation on Beckham's part and the referee ( I wonder as this point should I still refer to him as a referee because of the various mistakes, the penalties given and most of all the sending off of Beckham.) gave Beckham the red card Simeone got away with only a yellow. Darn. They just changed their tactics and this have to happen. I was gutted. What a referee. Bad decisions. From the television angle, Beckham only seemed to have touched the calves of the Argentinean who fell dramatically. Does Beckham deserve a red card? No! Who doesn't know that the Argentineans are a "dirty" lot, or so reports say and even players would played with them. One player said that England ought to be careful of the Argentineans as they are prone to falling down, especially near or in the penalty box itself. Prone to falling down? Ha! Like babies who have no idea how to walk eh. They seem to live up to their name of being the "dirtiest". This is shown in the 45min goal where , through a free kick , they turned it into a goal.

Darn…..now England would be on the defensive while Argentina would be aggressively moving upfront and of course, falling upfront. What a bad day for England. Talk about have no luck. I watched about 20 mins of the game, seeing England scrambling to defend and less on the prowl. No balls were passed to Owen or Shearer and Shearer even had to defend. Tough luck. I decided to get some sleep knowing that England won't get through this.

Mid-morning, I saw the score in the news. It said that England lost the penalties, 3-4 in favour of Argentina. Hey, England managed to hang on to 2-2. And that was great job for a team who went down to 10 men. Poor showing from the Argentineans. But I got to know later that Sol Campbell scored a header, only to have it disallowed because of a foul on the goalkeeper by Shearer. And also they had a penalty request turned down for a hand ball. Tough luck.
Penalty takers for England were Shearer ( he's really got a reputation of taking penalties), Owen ( I think that he would be crushed if he were to mix it, after all , he's in the early stages of his career and to miss it would be devastating to him and besides it took Gareth Southgate sometime to get over his penalty miss) , Merson , Ince and Batty ( it's his first time taking it!)
I wonder about their choice as to who to take the shots. If Beckham was there, then he would have taken it and not missed. But if Beckham were not sent off, England would have won. Perhaps Anderton or Le Saux could have taken it but they were substituted by Batty and Southgate) Or perhaps Hoddle could have got Sherringham in as a substitute, (that is if he have not used up all the substitutes but he did. Maybe he was thinking of defending.) and Sherringham had taken the shot. Perhaps everyone else should have taken the penalty but Batty. Perhaps Campbell or Adams or Southgate or Neville. ( All defenders……but…..) And Batty , he aimed his shot right at the centre. Would this be a goal? How disappointing…………..

Well…… despite their lost. I respect England as a team and the individuals who put their heart and soul in the game to fight on despite having only 10 men. And having fought so hard, lost out in penalties. For the earlier quarter finals matches , I had hoped to see penalties being taken instead of relying on that golden goal. But none of the match led to penalties. Never would I imagine that my hope would turn true, especially so to a team that I love and support.

England earned my respect and I must learn never to belittle them for the wonder grit , determination, perserverance and skills they showed. I have never seen them play that way. In my heart , they are the superior and I will support them and have faith in them in other games. But all is too late. Perhaps if I had a little more faith in them……..Here I have to say again, that the English team were far more superior then the Argentineans and they were in fact the winners of the game, had they have Beckham. They are the winners………