England v Germany - the linesman's point of view

Above: What the linesman saw

The picture above could shed some light on the assistant referee's diabolical decision in England's match against Germany.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to make excuses for England - they lost because Germany were the better team. Before the World Cup began I thought that England had problems (dodgy first choice keeper, lack of centrebacks behind the first-choice pairing of Terry and Ferdinand, lack of quality strikers apart from Rooney and poor form by both the team and most of the key players before the tournament - I could go on), and so it proved.

We have to face the fact that England's players are not as good as the media make out, but Fabio Capello must also take a proportion of the blame. He got every major decision wrong: He left out Walcott and Johnston but picked Lennon and Wright-Phillips who were awful; he picked Rob Green in goal and he made a howler in the first match; he picked Heskey up front and he missed a sitter in the first match; he stuck with Upson when King and Carragher could have come back and he had a stinker.

And the players looked so terrified when they went out onto the pitch that they were beaten even before kick-off. At times it was more like three ferrets than three lions.

But still, seriously, what was the linesman thinking? Was he even watching the game?

Share via Social Network

England v Germany - the linesman's point of view