"JORD OF THE FLIES" Daily Mirror

Switzerland Team

England Team

In a match nobody really wanted, England came out winners in a penalty shoot-out to secure third place in the first Nations League Championship. That was probably the best thing that could have been said about the final game of a long season, and now the players can finally officially go on holiday.

England definitely deserved to win but the game should have been done and dusted long before it came down to extra-time and penalties.  Early on, the match looked full of zest and as early as the second minute Harry Kane came very close to scoring.  A long ball forward from Jordan Pickford was flicked sideways by Kane.  The striker then ran on to a superb return pass and delicately chipped the ball at goal.  The goalkeeper, Yann Sommer, back peddled and just managed to touch it onto the crossbar.  The ball bounced down but out of the reach of two England players following up.  That was a near miss, and how Kane would have loved a goal.

Switzerland hit back and Remo Freular shot straight at Pickford. In the 14th minute England had another fine chance when Kane found Raheem Sterling. But last season’s sharpness has evaporated from the tired legs and Sterling shot straight at Sommer who saved easily. By this time the game had died somewhat and there were long passages of tediousness. Danny Rose and Jesse Lingard were both booked for strong challenges and Haris Seferovic shot high and wide from one rare goal effort.

Trent Alexander-Armstrong was playing very well down the right and the quality of his crosses deserved a better result. Several times he curled in dream centres, but England just did not take advantage. In the 35th minute one of those crosses was perfect for Deli Alli to head at goal. It seemed he must score but sadly, he headed over the bar. And that was the end of the action in a largely forgettable first-half.

The Swiss created the first chance after the break with Freular going close. In the 56th minute Pickford dived full length to push a good effort by Granit Xhaka out for a corner. A cross from the left by Rose was deflected by defender Fabian Schar, and after another finger-tip touch by Sommer, the ball struck the far post before being cleared. The game crawled along with little incident after that. Sterling headed over from another fine Alexander-Arnold cross in the 74th minute and then substitute Steven Zuber shot just wide for the Swiss two minutes later. Callum Wilson replaced Kane and Kyle Walker came on for Rose as England looked to change things. With five minutes of normal time left England, once again, thought they had won the match.

Sterling crossed to Ali and his header struck the crossbar and bounced down. Wilson was the first to react and he forced the loose ball over the line. Joyous scenes followed, but one lesson that we have learned from these last two games is that we should never celebrate a goal until after VAR has been checked! Sure enough, about ‘ten minutes’ before the ball was put in by Wilson, a ‘foul’ had been spotted, against Wilson, and the goal was once again ruled out. The ‘foul’ was nothing more than a coming together of two players in the area, but because the Swiss defender went down the ref decided it was a foul after consulting the wonderful VAR system.

The authorities really do have to look at this system again as at the moment it is nothing short of a liability. In the end, and in the future, nobody will celebrate goals as we will all have to wait for VAR to have a look. ‘Clear and Obvious’ is what it was supposed to be, but against the Dutch and now against the Swiss, it was anything but.

So, this match went into extra-time, and England had the better of the extra period.  Sterling should have done better at the far post with a header, Alli forced a fine save from Sommer and right at the death Sterling hit a lovely free-kick which struck the crossbar yet again.  It probably wouldn’t have counted as a goal though, as VAR would have found that someone had put an extra coat of paint on the bar at half-time!  Sorry, I know I shouldn’t be so flippant, but for goodness sake, let us get back to leaving it to the officials on site to make the decisions and then we can have a proper argument when they get it wrong!

It was still 0-0 at the end of extra-time, so on we went to penalties.  No problem for England, ahem!  Harry Maguire, Ross Barkley, Jadon Sancho, Sterling, Pickford (yes, Pickford, and he fired home a cracker) and Eric Dier all scored from the spot for England whilst Zuber, Xhaka, Manuel Akanji, Kevin Mbabu and Schar all scored for the Swiss to make it 6-5.  It was then left for Josip Drmic to equalise for the sixth time.  He failed, thanks to a fine diving save by the hero of the hour, Jordan Pickford.

There was no bronze medal presenting ceremony, which sort of summed up this low-key match, and apparently the medals were put in the dressing room to be sorted out amongst the winning team.  Having said all of that, at least England came back with a little bit more than they did from the World Cup last year.

Now they can have their holidays.
   

Source Notes