Buzzin Football

England beat a good passing Mexico team tonight at Wembley.  The 3-1 result looks convincing but the performance was less so.

I forgave England their nervous start and put that down to it being the last home game in front of a large, expecting crowd, and that some of the players were obviously attempting to play themselves into the final 23 man squad.

Fortunately it wasn’t too long before a Wayne Rooney corner was headed back across goal by Peter Crouch and Ledley King scored, what was clearly, a training ground set-piece.

Goals aside, England once again didn’t look comfortable on the ball.  Sloppy first touches, goalkeepers hoofing the ball as far up field as possible, and, until they scored a goal, the ‘headless chicken’ syndrome.

Peter Crouch once again played a good game in this a rare England start Fabio Capello, and I also think Robert Green done as much as he could to make a bid to start against the United States next month in South Africa.

But I was shocked to hear post-match analysis suggesting Ledley King had a good game!

Several times I saw Ledley King dip out of a tackle or look completed stranded. I can understand none of the England players wanted to pick up an injury, but with Ledley King playing for England against world class players in the World Cup, I see one of two things happening.  He will not want to go into a crunching tackle with the same commitment as John Terry or Jamie Carragher and that could easily be enough for England to lose 1-0; or if he does go into a solid challenge 23 players will become 22.

Furthermore, I thought Theo Walcott looked less than convincing, nervous and so many times attempting to take on one too many defenders or making the wrong decision. And I can only assume that Fabio Capello played James Milner in the centre of midfield and Steven Gerrard on the left because he already knows the reverse would work.

Other good performances included Wayne Rooney, Glen Johnson and Aaron Lennon

On this performance, I think England will make it through to the quarter or semi finals before any weaknesses will be highlighted by a Spain, Germany, Brazil or Argentina.

On the brighter side, England was without five possible first team players (John Terry, Ashley Cole, Joe Cole, Frank Lampard and David James.  They will play one more friendly game against Japan next week before Fabio Capello has to tell seven players they will not be going to the World Cup.

So for next week’s final game before the World Cup I would expect Capello to start with his strongest 11 and then through the second half make some substitutes to have a final look at the odd player he may still not have made a final decision on.