We could play the ball around much easier Martin Jorgensen, who with Everton's Thomas Grav-esen controlled the game, followed two first-half goals by forcing the 81st-mistake by Paul Robinson from which Jon-Dahl Tomasson scored Denmark's winner. It was their second victory over England in 16 matches, following the Allan Simonsen-inspired win which cost England a place in the 1984 European Championships.Eight years later Denmark won the competition, a feat England have never managed, and there was enough evidence yesterday to suggest they will be worth avoiding in Portugal next summer. By the second half only David Beckham and Wayne Rooney remained and when they were withdrawn England were fielding, at best, a second XI.Denmark, who had matched England's starting XI, despite missing some key players of their own, toyed with the ersatz version. An afternoon which began with the crowd singing "Swing low sweet chariot" in homage to the oval-ball heroes of Sydney ended with their round-ball equivalents succumbing to their fourth home defeat under Sven Goran Eriksson.
Crucially none of these have come in competitive games, but there were enough worrying signs in this friendly for the England coach to spend the winter break pondering his options with concern rather than relish.There is little disputing the quality of Eriksson's first-choice XI, but the potential of the understudies is yet to realised. Of the chorus line only John Terry, Joe Cole - who scored - and Paul Robinson made a case for promotion to centre stage and their performances were flawed. Glen Johnson and Scott Parker will also remember the match with fondness, but mainly because they took to 27 the number of players given debuts in Eriksson's three-year reign.In mitigation, few teams can withstand the loss of half a side and England began with five regulars absent then lost Gary Neville to injury. "The England team, once it changed so many players, was not so well organised. We could play the ball around much easier."Eriksson thought Olsen and the critics had a point. "You can't expect the team which played the last 20 minutes to be organised, they have never played together and we never practised that formation."However, yesterday's encounter exposed another feature of England's recent displays which will nag away as the European Championship approaches. Since that 3-0 victory over Denmark in the World Cup last year, England have kept four clean sheets in 15 games - and two of those have come against Liechtenstein.. The Denmark manager, Morten Olsen, who was a member of the only other Danish side to overcome England, a defeat which cost Bobby Robson's side a place in the 1984 European Championships, agreed. It's the right way to do it."Many would argue that the sheer number of substitutions choked England's progress - when the final whistle blew there was not a member of Eriksson's first-choice team on the pitch.
"He has to learn things about the game just like Glen Johnson," Eriksson said. "You can talk about Glen Johnson but how many games has he played in the Premier League? Twenty? You can't expect him to know everything. Today they learned that if you make a mistake in international football against a side like Denmark you pay for it but it is better to pay for it in a friendly and give a chance to those young players. The PA announcers attempted to link this match to England's triumph in Sydney by playing their rugby anthem but the moment Eriksson's chariot tried to swing, the wheels came off.Cole, for instance, was also responsible for the move which triggered Martin Jorgensen's first goal by surrendering possession. |
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