It might have been a bit boring, but England easily did enough to take control of things in Group B, in a near perfect display of Italian football–find a way to score once, then hunker down. Except Italy rarely ever manages it. Any meager threat Paraguay tried to mount was quickly handled by England’s defense. At this point, it would be hard to say if that was down to England or just Paraguay’s complete lack of firepower. After the quick own goal, Paraguay seemed almost as content as England to keep things at 1-0.
England looked more workman-like than spectacular, but they didn’t need brilliance today. Owen was nonexistant. Beckham was only useful on set plays. Crouch did his usual share of flailing about. But, the midfield was very solid and the defense was never really tested.
A nice, easy opening round win which should set England on their way, as long as they don’t expect all the matches to be so easy. They’ll probably actually have to score if they’re going to win any more.
Posted in: World Cup
Actually, Italy does it successfully quite a bit, especially in the early rounds. The conservative startegy tends to fail them later in the tournament when they face the tougher teams. If you look at the World Cups over the past 25 years, Italy is always advancing to at least the quarterfinals, and they have made it to the semis and the finals as well. England has suffered many early exits, so perhaps this conservative style makes sense early.
That said, I’m hoping the Italians are true to their word and try to play more aggressive soccer. When they won it in 1982 they had a hot striker in Paolo Rossi and they rode him to many spectaculat vistories, including a huge upset over a great Brazilian team.
That’s all right, of course, but no one ever remembers the times the strategy works, only when it doesn’t. Just like the prevent defense in the American game.