England v Wales
England’s 2-0 win over Wales yesterday brought up a few points I didn’t see or hear discussed in any of the media outlets I consulted, so here’s a few of the points to make.
• Rooney needs to learn to pass. Against Fenerbahce last week, there was one situation where he had gone past the keeper, but was in a poor shooting position, with RVN in the box waiting for the pass for an almost certain goal. Rooney shot excellently but hit the post, so was forgiven. Yesterday in that position, with three England players in the box, he shot, had it saved, and his team mates were a tad narked. Against Wales, it didn’t really matter, but imagine if that had been in the knockout stages of a major competition. He’s young, he’s still learning, but passing is not an optional skill. All strikers need a certain level of selfishness, but this should only apply when there’s actually a viable goalscoring attempt, with no team mate in a drastically better position.
• Wales aren’t really very good. They’ve now not won in nine games, and that win against Italy aside, Mark Hughes has not been that great a Welsh national manager. They’ll do well to get anywhere near second place in the group.
• There shouldn’t have been a minutes silence for Kenneth Bigley. As sad as his death was, he took the risk of going to a warzone for potential capital gain. His death is no more or less tragic than that of anyone killed in the escalating chaos in Iraq. While the reception of it was shameful, it shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Note – I understand that this point would not be made publicly in respect for the family, so no blaming the media for this one.
And the World’s Most Overhyped team, France, proved beyond doubt last night that they’re, well, overhyped and overrated. Ireland should have won by at least two goals, and were unlucky not to. Here’s hoping their legend will end with failure to qualify for the next World Cup.