English press hit tame Lions win

To the chagrin of tens of thousands of English fans who packed the stadium in Nuremberg, World Cup minnows Trinidad and Tobago kept the tame English lions at bay for over 80 minutes of the game, before two inspirational moments in the dying minutes of the game, gave England two goals.

In the first instance, gangly six footer Peter Crouch rose above TT Soca Warriors’ Brent Sancho to head a ball past TT custodian Shaka Hislop on a cross from Lions captain Davin Beckham. The relief on Beckham’s face after the first goal told a story of its own.

Minutes later, the TT defence was caught napping as Stephen Gerrard gave Hislop no chance and he drilled a shot at an acute angle to give the Lions their second goal and a berth in the round of 16.

Despite the loss, the TT Soca Warriors fans in Nuremberg rose as one to applaud the effort of their brave team who are participating in their first ever World Cup Finals and who have set the World Cup abuzz with their never-say-die attitude.

The Warriors were beaten on the field, but they were certainly not disgraced. At the end of the day, all of the questions will be posed on England especially since the TT Soca Warriors came into this World Cup with nothing to lose and with a more than creditable nil-nil draw with Sweden earlier on.

The online edition of The Guardian stated; ‘‘Trinidad and Tobago were denied a heroic World Cup point today when lacklustre England snatched two late goals in a poor Group B clash in Nuremberg.

‘‘The manner of the English win will certainly not have reinforced Sven-Goran Eriksson claims that they can reach far in the tournament, but it did at least avert a humiliation that had seemed eminently possible throughout much of their impoverished performance.

‘‘The killer goal came in the 83rd minute, when David Beckham lofted a cross from deep to the back post, and Crouch outjumped the hitherto superb Brent Sancho to nod the ball past Shaka Hislop from four yards.

“Steven Gerrard added a glossy finish with his splendid left-foot strike from 20 yards, in the first minute of injury time.”

‘‘But if those goals seemed pleasingly straightforward, almost everything else England did in the match was laboured and ineffective.

And this even after Eriksson had taken the ultimate gamble: sending on Wayne Rooney as a substitute before an hour had elapsed.’’

The Daily Mirror sports reporter who covered the England/TT game wrote, ‘‘Goals from Peter Crouch and Steven Gerrard have given England a hard-fought 2-0 victory against Trinidad and Tobago in this afternoon’s Group B World Cup clash.

‘‘Sven Goran Eriksson’s side had struggled to break down the Soca Warriors’ resolute defence, before making the breakthrough in the 83rd minute when Crouch headed home David Beckham’s inch-perfect cross.

‘‘Crouch’s Liverpool teammate Gerrard sealed the win with a powerful left-foot strike in the final minute of the match.’

The Daily Telegraph was also not pleased with the performance, with their reporter writing, ‘‘Late goals from Peter Crouch and Stephen Gerrard rescued England from a potentially embarrasssing draw against a resolute Trinidad and Tobago side.”

The reporter went on to describe England’s performance as ‘‘sluggish.’’

The London Times described England as ‘‘barely getting the job done.’’ The BBC sports site described England as ‘‘stumbling into the second round.’’

England faced resilient but limited opponents in Trinidad and Tobago, big on strength and pace but short on genuine quality.

And yet England looked for the first 80 minutes as if they were going to have to leave Nuremberg with only a point.