Anyone see the England - Czech Republic friendly?
Wow. The football gods must pity England, that was THE most undeserved draw I've ever seen. Capello must have had to change his pants after that last-gasp equaliser by J. Cole - one of the scrappiest goals ever scored.
I thought England were woeful - if it wasn't already obvious, you could see that this team had no business in the Euros. Gerrard and Beckham were supposed to be left and right wingers, respectively, but I saw Wes Brown attacking up the right more than Beckham, who spent a lot of time in the middle and on the left, while Gerrard was roaming way upfield in the center a bit too much. Brown and Terry were beaten on the CR's first goal. James fumbled one shot and got beaten on that sneaky break up the left in the second half, with the Czech player rounding James and missing on a tight angle strike. Barry had a couple clumsy fouls, Hesky looked rusty and I thought the czech defense read Defoe very well. England looked bereft of attacking ideas.
I thought Lampard was pretty quiet overall, and the crowd booed him off when he was substituted. It was quiet at Wembly - you could hear the Czech fans chanting. Other than playing out of position, Gerrard had an OK game, with some decent passes and runs. He tried to power a few of his trademark long-range shots in with no luck, but perhaps should have held the ball up instead to put sustained pressure on the CR defense
The Czechs, on the other hand, looked pretty organized and completed a bunch of passes in the run up to their first goal. The second goal was an absolute peach - bent in just like...Jankulovski. They forced England to shoot from a distance, which rarely troubled Cech.
Once again, England can only score from set pieces. In this form I would think an Italy or Spain would simply take England apart. Not sold on Capello's England yet. It was raining at Wembly but Capello was careful not to bring an umbrella.
