The one established truism running through Euro 2004 has been this: the winning team is the one that attacks. England ignored this and paid the price for taking the lead early and seeking to defend it through the 90 minutes. That the Portuguese could not capitalise till the very end is another matter; England escaped the humiliation they would have received at the hands of a more potent strike force. A scrappy match that rose to its full heights only in the dramatic 30 minutes of extra time, and penalty kicks beyond, the first quarter final was stifled by the below-par performances of the expected stars. To some extent the early loss of Wayne Rooney was to blame for this, if only because it robbed England of the aggression and energy they needed. A pity, because there were signs that Michael Owen was at last finding the form that made him a star, scoring one goal with his blink-of-an-eye reflexes and almost getting through on another couple of occasions. But Rooney seemed to have taken with him the team’s sense of adventure and Owen spent much of the rest of the match an isolated figure. That’s because England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson chose to defend the 1-0 lead, rather than try and increase it. If England are now screaming about referee Urs Meier’s decision to disallow Campbell’s goal in extra time, they should have killed off the match in 90 minute. Even without Rooney, their scoring power is strong: the entire midfield can contribute goals, Owen was looking good and Vassell nippy. If there was one sound reason for Eriksson’s going defensive, it’s the fact that he didn’t have one creative midfielder to lift the team above the ordinary. Perhaps it was memories of the match against Brazil in 2002; a goal ahead, they kept the game open till it was too late and they couldn’t find a way back. It’s long been a failing of the English game — ever since Glenn Hoddle retired — that they don’t have enough Flair Players who can change a match with a moment’s magic. It’s a problem that has grown with the Bosman ruling and the subsequent easing of international transfers, because clubs find it cheaper to import flair players from the Continent, where flair is easier to come by and better nurtured, than to raise them at home. They raise Flair Players by the schoolful in Portugal, but sadly this was not the night for them to shine. So, adding to the agony of watching England defend was the agnoy of watching Portugal trying to attack. Deco, far from being the string-puller, looked tied up in knots; Ronaldo was efficiently shepherded by Cole and Neville and the best thing about Figo was his substitution. Eventually, the match rose in spite of itself, thanks to inspired substitutions from Scolari and a last burst of energy from Lampard. Then it fell to the lottery — and England found they had all the wrong numbers.
