England busking it all the way to Euro 2012

 Robben's strike: our statues get a great view of it.

England fans will breathe a collective sigh of relief as caretaker boss Stuart Pearce has declared, "I'm short term" after masterminding England's latest gulf in class.

Because a 3-2 friendly defeat to Holland leaves us nowhere in particular ahead of a big date in the diary.

With Euro 2012 three months away, Pearce mooted he was Plan B before kick-off. He explained he was there if Harry Redknapp (or anyone else) wasn't going to succeed Fabio Capello permanently.

Now he's incentivising the FA powerbrokers to get a replacement in as soon as possible. The Under-21 boss is committing to the senior job for however long it takes, so let's hope that's not too long.

Because at Wembley, England were busking it. After the Capello years, there was new thinking at the helm but with little commitment to it. We've just chucked an eye-watering £24m at Fabio's four-year plan: our reward for it? we're fifth favourites going into a major tournament.

Scott Parker was captain instead of stand-out Stevie and there was no room for Theo Walcott and Ashley Cole who's experience might've been regarded more highly considering the quality of the opposition.

Arjen Robben's opening goal showed the huge lack of experience we had against the truly world-class. His darting dribble and run cut a slice through our defence with almost no resistance, and as Robben's second goal confirmed deep into injury time, he posed a potent threat throughout.

Now this'll never happen. Nice pic though!

Then again there were some positives: no one was afraid to play, Daniel Sturridge, Adam Johnson and Danny Welbeck all dribbled there way into creating chances and Parker wore the armband with aplomb and responsibilty.

But after the England fight back, the Dutch deserved their winner. The composure of the Orange was greater - as was their sheer ability.

So a 3-2 defeat with the order of the goals falling in exactly the same way as England's darkest night at New Wembley - that defeat to Croatia which snatched defeat from the jaws of victory to deny us a Euro 2008 place.

Pearce is not cut out for the England job and doesn't rouse his troops as a boss. That's a strange thing to say about a man who inspired such passion and leadership among fans and teammates alike as a player.

Roll on Redknapp's arrival. He may not be the master tactician a la Mourinho, but as Tottenham's Roman Pavlyuchenko will testify, he will get his charges to "run around a bit" in pursuit of glory.

Click here for the current Top Story Soccermongery's all about your feedback, so write away, right away!

United Spain are worthy world champions

Worthy winner

Spain swept through the World Cup Final with skill, drill and at the death, thrill. Starting the tournament as favourites and European champions, they've now become the sport's eighth world champion.

But there's a new generation of Dutch bridesmaids too. Think of Cruyff, Neeskens and Krol. Of Gullit, Rijkaard and van Basten. Of Bergkamp, Overmars and Stam.

Now add Robben, Sneijder and van Bommel to that list. For all the pomp and brilliance of Holland's previous generations, the class of 2010 couldn't exorcise the ghosts of '74 and '78. Instead they helped bestow upon Spain the greatest of honour of all with tough, uncompromising, frequently ugly play.

 

Holland Kong Phooey

The nineteenth World Cup Final blazed goalless through nearly two hours to reach resolution. Then Andres Iniesta brought down a pass from Cesc Fabregas to fire past Maarten Stekelenberg in the Dutch goal. Holland argued that the game might've been held up with a foul on Eljero Elia. Their protests fell on deaf ears.

Eight Dutchmen were scribbled into referee Howard Webb's book; the Total Football of Ajax and Holland it certainly wasn't. Johnny Heitinga saw red and thirteen others were booked. The man in the middle's never been so busy in a World Cup Final.

But for Spain, it's Total Victory. They're only the third nation to be world and European champions at the same time.

At opposing ends, both Robben and David Villa will be haunted by failure to convert golden chances. Both were denied by last-gasp interventions by the keeper. Sergio Ramos will wake up in the middle of the night too. He blazed a free header over the bar twelve minutes from normal time. Luckily for him, they won.

The second half was open and end-to-end, it was a surprise we needed thirty extra minutes to decide the destination of the prize.

Total Football reputation destroyed in one night.

But perhaps the lack of resolution in 90 minutes is a fitting end to this World Cup. A tournament mostly dictated by well-drilled, evenly matched teams who gave little away, many of whom ground out their results through fear of losing.

Despite wielding cards like confetti, Howard Webb, the first Englishman to referee a World Cup Final since Jack Taylor in 1974 had a solid game and showed great leniency (and humanity) when deciding not to send off Robben as the winger deliberately kicked the ball into the net after the whistle had blown. It would've been his second bookable offence.

Paul McGrath's dad and someone else waving.

Iker Casillas, still only 29, is a world champion in his 111th appearance for his country. Even Nelson Mandela made an appearance at Soccer City. Apparently, FIFA put him under some pressure to show up. He dropped out of the Opening Ceremony last month after the tragic loss of a great grand daughter in a car crash.

But it's Spain who become champions for the first time making sense of their great heritage at last, and all is right in the footballing world.

Click here for the current Top Story

Soccermongery's all about your feedback, so write away, right away!