Neville: Goodbye England
Independent: You might want to sit down before you read this but England were impressive last night. Solid at the back, dangerous in attack, just about the only person connected with the national team who might have felt disinclined to inhale the air of contentment was Gary Neville.
For more than a decade the Manchester United captain has been first choice as England’s right-back, but as he watched last night’s Group E qualifier against Israel his mood must have got darker. England’s No 2 all right, except the white shirt with the number on it surely now belongs to Micah Richards.
Neville is a superb full-back who, for nearly a decade has been Europe’s best in the position, but it is hard to see how Steve McClaren can possibly drop Richards. Neville has the edge when it comes to crosses and he is one of the most experienced international defenders in the world, but when did he embark on a bewildering run that put him past three Israelis like the 19-year-old did in the first half?
For that matter, Neville has never had the raw power and speed that his younger rival exudes. Centre-forwards bounce off the Manchester City player; slighter wingers go to some lengths to avoid thumping into the football equivalent of a bulldozer. There are three lions on the shirt and one inside it too.
This colossal strength is evident when the ball is on the floor but Richards also provides something that Neville never will, a presence in the opposition area. Last night England’s corner-takers had a multitude of targets, but even with John Terry, Rio Ferdinand and Emile Heskey to aim at, the option of Richards was not neglected. That was most obviously evident in England’s third goal in the 66th minute when the Israelis concentrated on the older heads only for Richards to rise at least six inches above his marker to meet Gareth Barry’s corner from seven yards. The Israeli goalkeeper, Dudu Aouate, complained that Michael Owen had hindered his attempt to reach the cross but frankly there was every chance he would still have been beaten by Richards’ jump.
Neville holds the unenviable record of being England’s most capped outfield player never to score a goal: his young rival has already got an international goal after six caps. His reaction to scoring spoke loudly about the confidence running through his young body. He ran to the spectators, turned his back and then pointed to his name. It was showy, but how many 19-year-old youths playing for their country wouldn’t be? The gesture was aimed at the crowd but it might as well have been saying “the shirt is mine” to Neville.
The final plus for Richards is that he has developed an understanding with Shaun Wright-Phillips that would have had its formative development when the latter was still a City player. For years, Neville and David Beckham used the understanding they formed at Manchester United to England’s good use. Now the international right flank, which bore the brand “made at Old Trafford” might well be switched to “made in Eastlands”.
But while Richards could reflect on an impressive addition to his reputation, an older team-mate was happy to reach the dressing room without a blemish to reflect on. It was a big night for the young man, it was just as important for the goalkeeper behind him. You can imagine Paul Robinson’s thoughts when Steve McClaren took him to one side on Thursday evening. “That’s it for England then. Be lucky to make the bench given the way Scott Carson is playing for Villa.”
Instead of the axe, however, the England coach was carrying an olive branch accompanied by a plea for patience for his much-criticised goalkeeper. “Other players made mistakes against Germany,” McClaren said, almost priest-like in his call for understanding over the clanger Robinson dropped to allow the Germans an equaliser last month. “Do we give them the same punishment?” Given that the centre-back Rio Ferdinand would have been given the media equivalent of hanging and quartering if he had gone out of position, lost track of the ball and then headed against his own bar to present a goal to the opposition, the short answer would be yes. And Rio is not allowed to use his hands.
So McClaren was probably in a minority in thinking Robinson should have been in England’s goal, but we criticise him when he panders to the public so it would be churlish to knock him over Robinson. Particularly as the Israelis showed so little threat in attack you could have had Time Team’s Tony Robinson in goal. Last night’s match resembled the sort of thing archaeologists would hope to uncover in a rusted film box: flickering black and white pictures of foreign teams with so much respect of England, their principal object was to keep the defeat to respectable proportions. Did the Israelis not know that the home team was suffering an injury crisis? Had it not reached Tel Aviv that Robinson is going through a crisis of confidence a few testing crosses might shred completely?
Obviously not, because the only shock for Robinson was that he had so little to do. He made an immaculate dive at the feet of Barak Yitzhaki after 12 minutes unaware that an offside flag had been raised. With nine minutes to go, the Israelis curled a cross, supposedly his Achilles heel, yet Robinson ploughed through a crowd to punch emphatically. Like Richards, he had made a statement.
