Admit it, you were thinking it: same old England.
It’s okay. It’s as natural as brushing your teeth in the morning, putting your pajamas on at night, or wondering why Emile Heskey stayed on the England squad for as long as he did. But something’s different, despite England not leaving much room for error while trailing Sweden 2-1 after a 59th minute goal by aging Swedish veteran Olof Mellberg.
Mellberg was left as unmarked as it gets, and though Steven Gerrard was nowhere to be found in terms of assignment or marking off the Swedish set piece, most commentators pointed a discerning finger at Glen Johnson. The Liverpool defender had the ignominy ten minutes earlier of allowing Sweden’s first goal counted as an own-goal after English goalkeeper Joe Hart made the initial save and likely, until the deflection off Johnson, sent the ball to safety.
What a great sign for England that all three goal-scorers on the evening are 23 or under in Andy Carroll and Theo Walcott (both 23), and Danny Welbeck (21) with a flick-kick of genuine mastery. We’ve seen beautiful English goals scored in important international competitions before: Michael Owen’s standard-setter at World Cup ’98 vs. Argentina, and Paul Gascoigne’s artistic masterpiece in Euro ‘96 against Scotland at the old Wembley Stadium.
As remarkable as those were, England’s third goal against Sweden deserves at least to be a discussion point, be it at the beginning or the end, of attractive and significant English goals in the last 20 years.
Welbeck’s 78th minute winner started with a John Terry interception about six yards north of his penalty area, and then England made eight consecutive passes of varying lengths and degrees of difficulty. Honestly, and this is a wholly positive observation, but that’s so “not England.” It’s Spain. It’s often Argentina. It’s certainly Brazil. But eight straight passes to take the ball the length of the field to where Welbeck can flick it in about three feet from the goal is something we haven’t seen much of regardless the skill of the opponent.
And those opponents hadn’t exactly become an archrival like Germany or France, but Sweden has been a very difficult out for the English in important international games. Sweden got the most from its talent and took points from England in draws at both the 2002 and 2006 World Cups. The Swedes also won the same qualifying group leading up to Euro 2000, forcing England to go the sometimes-calamitous playoff route against Scotland before eventually qualifying.
This match is the most important international victory ever against Sweden, and it sets England up to not only make the quarter-finals but perhaps even to finish first in Group D with a win over Ukraine (provided the France drops points against the already eliminated Swedes).
Like the draw against France, it was less a pretty win, than it was a functional one. Scott Parker looked his age at times with giveaways in the first half. Gerrard showed flashes of pace, and yet had that standard indifference he’s often been accused of by his harshest critics, especially in games at the international level. You can read too much into facial expressions, but Gerrard also strikes me as a guy who doesn’t want to be the top guy at this level, a role Tony Adams, Alan Shearer, and David Beckham absolutely craved so much it, at times, would envelop them.
Two major questions before Tuesday’s Ukraine showdown loom. Did Johnson do enough wrong on the backend to come out of the starting eleven? Does Leighton Baines or Phil Jagielka make an appearance with fresh legs and a willingness to prove their worth?
More notably, and certainly the nicer problem for manager Roy Hodgson, is who comes off for Wayne Rooney to make his tournament debut? Though Andy Carroll got the scoring started, and has a bright future, for me he’s the man who will have to wait in the wings. Welbeck created all day long and may be a better compliment for Rooney, who (just ask Jermain Defoe, Michael Owen, Darius Vassell, and Heskey) is often difficult to fully match with, unlike the aforementioned Shearer — who paired as seamlessly with Owen as he did with Teddy Sheringham.
Either way, England’s found itself in the place they should be quite pleased with. They’ll need to play much better football to beat any of Italy, Croatia, or obviously Spain in a quarter-final match. But no one’s ruling that out, despite being 2-5 in their last seven knockout games at the Euros and World Cup.