Football 365

Hoddle's Verdict On England

Goram: Why I Quit Scotland

Staunton To Leave Villa

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Thursday 28 May 1998

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BUT THERE ARE STILL MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS FOR HODDLE'S ENGLAND

MOROCCO 0 ENGLAND 1
NOW perhaps we can call them the World Cup warm-ups after all. Just as the extent of Glenn Hoddle's options appeared to be a choice between the infirm and the off-form, Michael Owen reminded us that not all the decisions have yet been made and that England might be in France for longer than their lacklustre preparatory campaign has so far suggested.

The 18-year-old Liverpool striker became England's youngest-ever scorer with a lightning break and calm finish against a Moroccan side whose functional performance will not have greatly cheered Scotland manager Craig Brown, whose Scotland side meet them in their final Group A match on 23 June. Owen is still unlikely to break the Shearer-Sheringham axis in time for England's opener, but if their strike partnership proves as flaccid against Tunisia in 18 days' time as it did against the Saudis last Saturday, then at least Hoddle has a contender waiting in the wings. And in the meantime, the rest of us can sleep safer in our beds, for the last 45 minutes of this game were a vast improvement than the miserable 135 previously served up by a team still struggling to find its groove.

These days Hoddle wears the familiar weary but feisty air of an England manager convinced of his own judgement but plagued by the country's weight of expectation, and when he was asked afterwards whether the performance meant Owen was impossible to omit, he preferred to snap, who said I was ever going to leave him out? He didn't stick around to explain

whether he was referring to squad or team, but then there were plenty more questions than answers about this performance.

Like many a ring-worn heavyweight before him, Paul Gascoigne did just enough in the closing exchanges to secure a decision, although his status as one of the starters must surely now be in doubt. Darren Anderton, made to play another 90 minutes, is clearly in the coach's plans although he again did little to justify that faith. The Spurs man will clearly get more goodwill from Hoddle than Steve McManaman, whose incisive pass set up Owen's goal but who was a peripheral figure for most of the first half. He may have done enough to get on the plane, but not on the field.

In an unfamiliar back three, Martin Keown looked comfortable, Sol Campbell just the opposite and Gareth Southgate was able to partially redeem himself for an awful performance against the Saudis. At the opposite end of the field, injury victim Ian Wright and late substitute Les Ferdinand did not have long enough to make any real impression. Two other strikers did, however, and only Owen's was favourable.

Hoddle himself insists that little can be learned from pre-tournament friendlies, but at least, as Saturday did with Andy Hinchcliffe, this run-out allowed one of the coach's more bewildering choices to play himself out of contention. After a nondescript performance, the substituted Dion Dublin cut such a forlorn figure as he trotted off that it would have almost been more merciful had his suitcases been waiting for him in the tunnel.

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