June 12 – Keegan Goes Gung-Ho
“YOU go 2-0 up and you’ve got to fancy your chances of going on to win.”
As much as we miss the musings of Kevin Keegan, we have to say here at OTFD Towers, we have to say that we’re far more comfortable with the England team being in the hands of Fabio Capello.
That’s largely due to games like the one today in 2000, as England opened their Euro 2000 campaign by galloping to a 2-0 lead over Portugal, only to end up on the losing side.
David Beckham, still licking his wounds from his World Cup dismissal two years earlier, was the architect behind England’s blockbusting opening to the tournament, as he crossed for Manchester United team-mate Paul Scholes and then Liverpool’s Steve McManaman to both convert and put England two goals to the good in the first 20 minutes.
Enter Keegan’s tactical nous. His gung-ho attitude to the match had put England in the driving seat, so he obviously thought ‘why change?’ England were practically sporting a 4-1-5 system, with an aging Paul Ince sitting for the Three Lions and it didn’t take long for the five Portuguese midfielders to out-flank him.
Four minutes after McManaman’s goal Luis Figo sauntered through the midfield with more time on his hands than Phil Spector, before doing joining that not-very-exclusive club of ‘players that have beaten David Seaman from distance’, letting fly from 25 yards.
England continued to attack and Rui Costa was the next beneficiary of England’s slack defending, given all the time in the world to plonk the ball onto Joao Pinto’s head and the game was level.
The half-time team-talk failed to bring about any discernable tactical shift from Keegan and England were caught out again in the 59th minute and Portugal took the lead through Nuno Gomes and England were off to a losing start.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, David Beckham was seen making an obscene gesture to a section of England fans that were abusing the midfielder, but he would later escape punishment from UEFA.
Portugal’s Paulo Sousa, however, was loving it: “I was even laughing on the bench when I saw their defenders heading back towards their own penalty area rather than trying to tackle Figo or Rui Costa,” he chortled.
The Three Lions’ entertaining brand of defensive incompetence was all too-evident when they faced Romania in their final group game, threw away another lead and crashed out of the tournament as Keegan stood on the sideline failing to do anything than yell “keep believing”.
This led Keegan to reflect: “We know our strengths – passion and commitment – but they alone are not enough. You have to be able to pass a football and show some invention.”
Now you’re getting the idea Kev, we all thought. But despite this apparent moment of clarity from Keegan, five months later he was handing in his notice in the Wembley toilet.
While we sit around and wait for KK to get backing to the game – surely he’s due another shot at the Newcastle job by now? – check out what else was going down today here and unless we’re the subject of an £80m move to sunnier climbs, we’ll be right back at you tomorrow for more of the same.
If you’ve enjoyed today’s tale of England woe, you might want to check out the second OTFD book – England: On This Day, which is now available for pre-order here. And while you’re at it, snap up the first one here.
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June 20 - England Rocked by Romania | On This Football Day on June 20th, 2009
[...] the Luis Figo-inspired capitulation to Portugal in their opening game, England bounced back with an always welcome win over Germany, meaning a draw [...]