| Saturday 23 May 1998 (Evening Edition) |
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ENGLAND'S ranking among the World Cup favourites was exposed on Saturday afternoon as what was billed as a rousing France 98 send-off which would rock Wembley to the rafters ended up carrying all the punch of the average Liberal Democrat garden party. |
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on Sunday 12 July. The bookies were certainly unimpressed, Ladbrokes pushing out England's odds for victory from 7-1 to 8-1, and in a post-match interview that was the model of diplomacy, even Hoddle could not disguise his disappointment with sections of his team, admitting: I didn't think we defended very well as a side. When we had the ball we looked quite bright, but to be fair they were quite strong. A win would have been better for us, but it didn't pan out for us. But remember, this wasn't for anything today. It is a bit disappointing that things didn't work out, but Tunisia is the only crucial game for us. The coach gave few clues as to which seven players would be trimmed from his remaining 29, but second-half substitute Paul Gascoigne was deemed to have done some good things , while fellow late entrant Ian Wright won similar praise. Darren Anderton, who to most observers appeared to go off the boil after a bright start, was rated to have done excellently - his use of the ball was superb". Hoddle did not delve into the disappointments, but Andy Hinchcliffe, in for the injured Graeme Le Saux, will be lucky to go anywhere other than Marbella this summer, while Teddy Sheringham had another awful performance for England, his touch awry and his thrilling telepathy with Alan Shearer during Euro 96 now just a distant memory. Of the merely average, Shearer had another laboured Saturday afternoon at Wembley, while the Manchester United trio of David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville were in turn disappointing, anonymous and worrying. Only David Batty, who at least attempted to impose himself on the game, emerged with any real credit and was honest enough to admit: We were very disjointed. I think a lot of people thought it would be quite easy beforehand, including me. By the end, and a tired ‘wave of appreciation' replacing what would surely have been a lap of honour had things gone well, some in the England camp were choosing to criticise sections of the crowd who booed Anderton and Sheringham and sang anti-Manchester United songs throughout much of the second half. Some of the fans were very disappointing, insisted Neville. I thought 25% were particularly poor. They were chanting ‘Stand Up If You Hate Man U' - I've never heard that sort of stuff at international matches before. Very true, but the stark fact is that this poor afternoon's work provided very little else for supporters to shout about. They were encouraged to sing the reissued ‘Three Lions' at the end, when the only anthem truly appropriate would have been ‘Things Can Only Get Better'. |
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