Paraguay0


England 1


4. GAMARRA Carlos (3' OG)

• Venue: FIFA World Cup Stadium, Frankfurt


• Referee: RODRIGUEZ Marco


• Temperature: 26°C 79°F


• Conditions: Fair

Most people’s FIFA World Cup favourites England began their FIFA World Cup campaign with a some what fortunate, one nil victory over a lack lustre Paraguay side who flattered to deceive for much of the game. England got off to the perfect start when a David Beckham free kick was knocked past his own goal keeper by Paraguayan captain Carlos Gammara playing in his 107th game for his country.

Things went from bad to worse for the Paraguayans early on when five minutes after going a goal down they were forced to substitute their goalkeeper Justo Villar who injured himself when coming out to clear the ball with Michael Owen baring down on goal. Villar limped off the field and was substituted by Aldo Bodadilla who fared well and kept a clean sheet for the eighty two odd minutes of game time that he was in action for.

Paraguay’s best chance of the game fell for Carlos Paredes, after England goalkeeper Paul Robinson failed to deal effectively with Carlos Bonnet’s cross and the rebound fell invitingly for Paredes who was unable to control his shot and scooped the ball over Robinson. With time running out Frank Lamapard saw his well taken shot from far out turned over for a corner as Bodadilla backtracked to stop the Chelsea man from doubling England’s lead.

England will have been relieved to have got off to a winning start but were far from convincing in their opening assignment in Germany, England lacked creativity in a game where in only captain David Beckham played with real flair and passion. Sven Goran Eriksson will return to England’s World Cup base in Baden Baden knowing that a lot of work still needs to be done if England are to consider themselves serious World Cup contenders.

Ernst Middendorp’s Match Review

My first thoughts on England’s performance are that it was totally unimpressive if Sven Goran Eriksson really believes that his team are one of the five favourites to win the World Cup than he has a lot of work to do. I believe the Paraguayan’s did their home work for this game and they knew that Lampard will look to shoot from distance and also that Peter Crouch will be a target man up front. England should have changed their tactics early on in the game and needed to be more decisive up front it was clear that they were missing Wayne Rooney as he could have possibly made a big difference for them.

Paraguay on the other hand played a good defensive game and generally played a counter attacking game which could have worked for them, they used Roque Santa Cruz up front I felt this was a mistake on the part of their coach Anibal Ruiz. Roque although a good striker has not had much match action this past season as he was nursing an injury, incidentally this was his third operation on the same knee. His lack of match fitness did come to the fore, had England played to their potential Paraguay would have been happy with a nil score line.

Over all not a great game and although Eriksson is happy with the three points why should he not be it is a winning start something England have only been able to achieve twice in an opening game of a major tournament in their last ten outings. Their previous victory in their first game of a major tournament came when they beat Tunisia 2-0 in Marseille eight years ago during the 1998 World Cup in France. Although David Beckham had a great game the rest of England’s big names the likes of Michael Owen, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Joe Cole need to lift themselves for their next game against Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday in Nuremberg.