Of wedding day tactics, forgotten hero and 1-0 win

Unimpressive? Definitely…Winners? Undoubtedly.

Wembley stadium, 12th of November, 2011 saw a young and unfamiliar team to which it is home do the unthinkable, even though it was all but a friendly. Led by a man resigned to the dumps by football critics and by a disciplinarian who sacrificed something as important as family to do what he loves the most, play the beautiful game. In the end both men got what they deserved in a thoroughly contested but one sided affair, with the visitors keeping the ball to themselves and the visitors being Spain, you know they give everything even in a friendly and did.

The Three Lions were never going to match up to the technicality or passing abilities of their more endowed opponents. So saying Rooney wasn’t playing or some of the other big names were missing is in my opinion negligible. Not that the English ain’t talented, they have always had talented individuals but never really a team. When Fabio Capello put out a team which looked like they were going to enter lockdown mode as soon as the whistle blew the result was looking pretty obvious. Lambs to the slaughter surely not lions.

But when you are facing the likes of Fabregas, David Silva, Andres Iniesta, Juan Mata, David Villa and i can go on, you know the ball is never going to be your girl, the Spanish men are more appealing aren’t they? But even in a lock down mode what a team needs is discipline, the likes of which are associated with classic Italian defenses. Keep your shape and stand firm against a barrage of onslaught. The Italians have a term for it, ‘Catenaccio’ – which means ‘door bolt’ and England did just that.

Winning his 90th cap in the match for his country was Frank James Lampard, stand in skipper in place of his fellow Chelsea mate and England leader John Terry and to top that he ended up being match winner. Not a pretty goal, Bent’s header came off the near post and with Jose Reina out of position Lamps just had to touch the ball with any body part to put it in an empty net, he kept his head to do that. Right man, right place and absolutely right time…classic Frank, never pretty but always useful.

Lampard’s goal with England’s disciplined backline well marshalled by Phil Jagielka and Joleon Lescott with the presence of in form keeper Joe Hart at the back kept out the Spanish armada, you can count a phew! lucky escapes like David Villa rounding the keeper and hitting the side netting or Cesc Fabregas missing a open goal. But all in all for once the English did what they set out to do, defend with blood and guts and hit them on the break. The win a real shot in the arm for the confidence of a team that hadn’t qualified for the last Euro and was less than impressive in there qualification to Euro 2012 proper and a confidence booster for Chelsea’s leading scorer in the league this season before next weekend’s clash against Liverpool.

Fabregas claimed to be bemused by England’s tactics and Casillas said it left a bitter taste and Spain deserved to win for the football they played. I won’t deny they were deserving and neither will i waste waxing lyrical of their game, because it’s being done a million times and we all know what ‘La Furia Roja’ brings to each and every game. They are the reigning European and World Champions, it is expected of them. But what Spain did not expect was the rise of a man written off, thanks to his age which is on the wrong side of 30 and did not expect the tactical astuteness of an Italian who had to miss his son’s wedding to be at his job as team boss and mastermind the defeat of the seemingly invincibles. A win’s a win doesn’t matter if it speaks of defensive tactics and 1-0 victories. Unimpressive? definitely but winners? Undoubtedly.