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Cometh the hour...

Tuesday Football
20 November 2007
by Jerrad Peters

At the moment, English football’s most celebrated hero is a 25-year-old striker for Maccabi Petah Tikva. With a single goal, Omar Golan kept Steve McClaren in his job for at least another five days and restored England’s threadbare hopes of qualifying for the EURO 2008 finals in Austria and Switzerland next summer. BetFred, the popular bookmaker, went so far as to offer an automobile to Golan as a gesture of the nation’s gratitude. The Israeli FA obliged its player to reject the offer; but that’s beside the point. Golan did not plant England into one of the four seeding pots at next month’s Group Stage draw. Rather, he provided a lifeline. A cord by which another hero could pull the Three Lions from the mud.

Of course, all this is merely rhetoric and meaningless discourse if England fail to do the business against Croatia on Wednesday. The epic tale of Omar Golan will disintegrate into a long-lost fable of the past; and the England players will be remembered as little more than pawns who lacked the backbone, passion, and heroics to step up and determine their fate on their own.

If public opinion means anything, backbone, passion, and heroics have been among the missing components of England’s qualification campaign thus far. They had better dig deep and find those intangible elements. What the past fifteen months have revealed is that England do not have a God-given right to qualify for every major tournament. And if they intend on getting into this one, they will require at least one of their own to grab them by the scruff of the neck and pull them in with the rope that Golan has tossed.

Who, exactly, that will be is anyone’s guess. It will almost certainly not be the manager. That, as much as anything else, is atop the list of reasons for sacking McClaren whether England qualify or not. It might have been John Terry. But the skipper is nursing a knee injury and, try as he might, could not pronounce himself fit in time for Wednesday’s match. Similarly, it might have been Michael Owen. However, McClaren’s mindless decision to start the injury-plagued Newcastle striker on Friday against Austria cost his side its most reliable goalscorer.

With Terry and Owen crocked, the leadership vacuum is sucking. And it will probably be Steven Gerrard who bears the brunt of the pressure. The 27-year-old is standing-in as skipper and has a knack for scoring timely goals at important times. That said, the inspirational Liverpool captain has been in a rather poor vein of form for several weeks and could use all the help he could get.

How’s this for an unexpected scenario: David Beckham, in his 99th appearance for England, guts-out a performance that takes his country into the European Championship. Stranger things have happened. Disregard his injury troubles of the summer and the fact that he plays the equivalent of League One football in the United States. While his match-fitness could obviously use some improving, he easily justified his selection to the starting-XI against Austria on Friday.

What Beckham brings to the table, aside from superb set-pieces, brilliant long balls, and insightful passing, is a collection of intangibles that his England teammates would do well to emulate. Against Austria, he was all of the above. He made several defensive clearances from his own 18-yard-box and picked-out a streaking forward from the half-way line on more than one occasion.

At the receiving end of the Beckham supply chain on Wednesday will be Peter Crouch. Playing as the lone striker, he will be England’s best bet for goals against Croatia. And despite the fickleness of many England supporters, you could do a lot worse. In 23 international appearances, the lanky forward has scored 13-goals. Comparatively, Wayne Rooney has tallied 19-times in 47-matches and Jermaine Defoe has struck just 3-times in 25-games. For what it’s worth, Teddy Sherringam managed only 11-goals in 51-matches for his country. McClaren has been coy about his squad in the run-up to Wednesday’s match. But the presence of Crouch almost guarantees that Beckham will be named to the starting lineup.

Frank Lampard will keep his place as well. The undisputed engine-room of Chelsea, the 29-year-old has been the odd man out when McClaren has opted to select between himself and Gerrard. And for good reason. Since the tail end of the World Cup qualifying campaign, Lampard has failed to impress in an England shirt. More often than not, he has stepped on Gerrard’s toes as much as anything else. However, with Crouch as the lone striker, he will not be required to play alongside his Liverpool counterpart. Ironically, the 4-5-1 formation which McClaren has been forced into using may bring out the best in both world-class midfielders. Here’s how.

The back-four is really without argument at this point. Micah Richards will start at right-back and Wayne Bridge on the left. Sol Campbell, the elder statesman of the squad at 33-years-old will partner Joleon Lescott, eight years his junior, in the centre of defense. In all likelihood, they will line up ahead of Scott Carson between the sticks.

Either Gareth Barry or Owen Hargreaves will sit directly in front of the defense. Barry, with 15-caps, has been sublime when included in the team and was arguably England’s best player in back-to-back wins over Israel and Russia in September. Hargreaves, meanwhile, has come into his own at Manchester United since Paul Scholes went down to injury. Unfortunately for the 26-year-old, he has battled nagging tendonitis since arriving at Old Trafford and was ruled-out of the weekend squad for fitness reasons. When completely healthy, Hargreaves would be the natural choice for this role. But given his prior performances for England and current form for Aston Villa, Barry is the man of the moment.

Gerrard and Lampard will roam ahead of Barry, to his right and left, respectively. Both will have carte-blanche to join Crouch in attack. Beckham and Joe Cole will hug the lines and provide width. Cole is another who just might play the hero. He has scored 7-goals in 46-matches for England and is one of the few players on the squad with an ability to beat a defender solely with his pace.

All told, McClaren may have stumbled upon this formation either completely by accident or out of pure necessity, but he, or the next England manager, may come back to it frequently in the future. If employed properly, it is more a Chelsea-styled 4-3-3 than 4-5-1. Beckham, for instance, could give way to one of Shawn Wright-Phillips, David Bentley, or Aaron Lennon to play on the right of the centre-forward and Joe Cole on the left. A healthy Wayne Rooney would slide nicely into this set-up. Michael Owen, as it seems, cannot be depended upon to participate game-in and game-out and should gradually be phased-out of the manager’s plans. Both Gerrard and Lampard would also be nicely accommodated in this formation.

Whatever the case, it should not be forgotten that McClaren did not draw his tactics out of imagination or foresight. The current team has all but picked itself and has been forced upon him. For that reason, the manager will not be the hero if England defeat Croatia at Wembley.

But someone will be. Even if they draw, Scott Carson may make a name for himself. Frank Lampard might deliver that elusive performance. Steven Gerrard might shake his slump. David Beckham might make believers out of the most cynical. Who knows? Peter Crouch might have everyone doing the robot.

If England go through to EURO 2008, one of these things is bound to happen. Which one, and which hero writes the story, remains anyone’s guess.