12 years ago, as today, a select group of England’s finest footballers (and Phil Neville) were preparing to find out their fate regarding the upcoming Coupe du Monde in France.
As a 14 year old Southampton fan who worshipped daily at the altar of Le Tissier, I was devastated when Glenn Hoddle opted to take Darren Anderton instead of our very own rotund genius. Le Tissier ended the season on a sublime run of goal-scoring form, including a hat-trick and captain’s performance in an England B international (organised specifically to allow players to impress). Despite this irresistible form, and his unrivalled ability to pop up with something special, Hoddle favoured the softly spoken (and presumably less likely to say no to whatever was asked of him – I’m only saying) Spurs midfielder. Favouritise much?
In a strongly-worded letter to Hoddle via the FA suggesting that he had made a terrible mistake, I took a solemn vow not to celebrate anything good that Anderton did at France 98.
26th June, England go into their final, crucial, group game – nothing less than a win will do. The Colombian side also had a chance to progress and with unpredictable talent such as Sideshow Bob Valderrama and the mental Asprilla nothing could be taken for granted. Inside the first twenty minutes, England are piling on the pressure but struggling to find a breakthrough, until little Mickey Owen fires a dangerous cross into the box which falls...WHAT A STRIKE!!!! 1-0, GET IN THERE!!! JUMP AROUND THE LIVING ROOM, SCREAMING YOUR HEAD OFF!!!
Wait…
No, it can’t be, please say it isn’t, anyone but him…
“Darren Anderton has given England the lead!”
Well, so much for my strongly worded letter and solemn vow – at that moment I had to accept it; I had just celebrated like a maniac. I guess that is what World Cup fever can do to you, even uber-chinned limp-wristed weeds like Anderton can become heroes. Mind you, Le Tiss would have got us a lot further in that tournament - he wouldn’t miss his penalty for a start. And I never did get a reply from Glenn.
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Whilst I'm not going to go as far as sending Fabio a letter, I do not agree with his squad, announced today after an almost farcical few hours of Tweets and Blog updates spilling the beans on who is in and out of the final 23.
The omission of Theo Walcott AND Adam Johnson is something that few people saw coming. Indeed I have to accept that my predictions look horribly ill-advised, having plumped for Baines, Theo and Johnson, none of whom will be there.
Walcott did not do enough in the recent friendlies to stake his claim - indeed, his performances were so bad that he would have been better off on the bench - but I still feel this is a massive mistake in omitting him altogether. SWP has failed to convince for years and years now, never really doing enough and enjoying many of his best moments thanks to miskicks or lucky bobbles.
If Aaron Lennon gets injured in the opening game, England will suddenly become horrendously pedestrian, predictable, and sluggish. Rooney will inevitably get drawn away from goal in the absence of proper wingers, leaving the unreliable Heskey in the area where he is least effective - in front of goal. Joe Cole now has a massive burden on his shoulders to provide the spark and creativity that takes a team from also ran's to contenders for the final week.
It's not all doom and gloom - the first eleven can certainly match anyone barring the elite - but to win a World Cup you need to use more than 11 players, and beyond the first choice there is a lack of any real threat.
Not convinced.
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