Best goal ever? You're having a laugh

Steven Gerrard says it is the best goal he has even seen 'live'. Alan Shearer went one step further and said it was the best of all time. It even left motormouth commentator Alan Green speechless.

What a load of guff. Zlatan himself said that he has scored better and that his first on the night, the first in the newly opened stadium in Stockholm, was more pleasurable for historical reasons.

Personally, I was not blown away by it one iota. At the end of the day, it was an overhead kick into an open goal in a meaningless friendly against mediocre opposition following a goalkeeping error.

Compare that with Diego Maradona's solo effort against England in a World Cup quarter-final or Marco van Basten's incredible volley in the final of Euro 2008 and Ibrahimovic's strike pales into insignificance.

Maradona's and van Basten's goals not only took the breath away but were big goals on big occasions that helped their national sides win major tournaments.

We are going home

Kiev's Olympic Stadium: the scene of England's crime

It was a massacre in all but the score line and even the most ardent of England fans couldn't deny the better team won.

Nevertheless, as the penalty shoot out began it didn’t prevent a wave of optimism when Riccardo Montolivo missed his penalty for Italy, giving England the advantage that they soon squandered after tame efforts from Ashley Young and the normally reliable Ashley Cole.

The English section of the stadium was something akin to a morgue after the defeat. Many of which were younger fans, the older ones now almost getting used to such failures. The younger ones just staring into the abyss like so many of the more senior supporters have done in Turin, Wembley, Shizouka and Gelsenkirchen.

As for the game itself, oh how we missed Jack Wilshere. Our inability to keep the ball has been well documented and the silky passing of the young Arsenal midfielder would have been essential if we'd had any hopes of having a major impact on this tournament.

Even the evergreen Paul Scholes would have been a more welcome addition to the pitch than the underwhelming introduction of Jordan Henderson.

As majestic as Italy’s Andrea Pirlo was, this tweet from Michael Owen shortly after England’s exit summed up the absence of Scholes: ‘Pirlo was awesome but we have a player of a similar age and equally as good. Unfortunately, he wasn’t there. #Scholes.’

Some may have viewed him coming out of retirement as regressive step but do you think the Italians would readily discard Pirlo, or the Spanish Xavi, in such a hurry? I think not.

Anyway, back to the England fans, who behaved impeccably throughout Sunday night’s game, thoughts were already turning towards Brazil. The endless optimism of an England fan is both reprehensible and admirable in equal measure. 

We just hope we have more ball retainers than ball hoofers next time out. Joe Hart’s endless long balls towards Andy Carroll became a familiar theme during the heartbreaking defeat to Italy.

But where there are young midfield starlets like Wilshere and Manchester United’s Tom Cleverley there is hope. My goodness we need it. We are going home, we are going we going home (but we’ll be back). See you in Brazil in 2014, providing we qualify of course.

Step by step

Euro 2012: it does exactly what it says on the tin

In the hours before kick off against Ukraine, the England fans, just like eight days before when we played France, congregated around the Golden Lion pub. The pub is situated in the city centre with a giant Lenin statue adjacent. What the Russian revolutionary would have made of it all is anyone’s guess.

The most intriguing aspect was certainly the few Ukrainians, some making their regular walk home from work that they may have been doing for a decade or more, daring not look in the direction of the English supporters for fear of reprisal.

Then there were others that would just come and watch, almost like children on their first day at the zoo. There are obvious comparisons but I will let you draw your own.

The atmosphere both in and outside the stadium was a good one, though the home support was less fervent once England scored.

And the away support? Well behaved, respecting the Ukrainian national anthem, which I know should be a given, but is often flouted at Wembley.

There is one thing to add that intrigues me about England fans: what is all this about ‘England til I tie’? As if an England fan is going to suddenly wake up tomorrow and discover he’s Icelandic.

Anyway, it is a pity that both host nations have exited the competition at the group stage. Talking of the group stage, this is now at an end and despite England’s best efforts, the tournament has yet to garner a goalless draw. Perhaps Italy are the ideal opponents for the Three Lions to break that record.

This tournament has rightly been heralded as one of the best for many a year. However, it might be a good idea to wait until it is over before bestowing such an honour as tournaments are generally defined by its knockout stages and there will be plenty of opportunities for Greece, England and Italy to yet turn this competition into a forgettable stinker.

Now it is back to Kiev for England’s quarter final but when and how have yet to be decided. It would be great to hold fire in Donetsk until Saturday night’s quarter final between France and Spain that is here at the Donbass Arena.

However, the Ukrainian transport network is doing its best to conspire against me. There is only one train to the capital on Sunday morning and that is fully booked. There are murmurings that many locals, call them touts if you will, have bought up all the tickets and trying to sell them off for a huge profit. If so, there is something that the authorities should do about this. This is extremely unlikely as they have slightly bigger fish to fry. Namely the £2.5 billion in state funds opposition leaders claim was illegally awarded for no-bid contracts for Euro 2012. Confused? Read more on this topic from the experts:

Talking of off the pitch misdemeanours: when is someone going to get a grip at UEFA? I know it has been mentioned aplenty but the moral outrage to the pitiful fines dished out for racism compared with the £80,000 fine for Nicolas Bendtner flashing his sponsored pants is fully justified.

Onwards and upwards

Well Friday night almost encapsulated everything about being an England fan, except if it had, the ending would have been far more miserable.

It could have been very different, however. As the storm clouds came over the Olympic Stadium in Kiev shortly before kick off, the fear was that we were going to suffer from the same deluge that had recently hit Donetsk, forcing the match between Ukraine and France to be abandoned, albeit for just one hour.

Roy Hodgson and the English support had more than the weather on their mind mid-way through the second half as Olof Mellberg scored a brace to put the Swedes into an improbable lead. But then Theo Walcott sprang from the bench to rescue the Three Lions and condemn Sweden to elimination as we now look optimistically towards playing Ukraine on Tuesday.

‘You're going home with the Irish’ was sang in the direction of the 20,000 Swedish supporters, outnumbering their English counterparts by almost three to one. This was not a feeling we are used to. Normally it is us who are the dominant force within the stadium. Even in Portugal in 2004, in their own stadium, we had more fans than our opponents. But here it was a sea of yellow and blue. That's the trouble: even the Ukrainians within the crowd seemed to be on the side of our opponents.

A fan's eye view: nervous times for the England faithful

It all used to be so different. Not since the cost of these trips became so extortionate that only the affluent Scandinavians can travel in their droves. And even they are restricted to a budgeted style camping arrangement.

Though there is the argument that the England team are so short in quality these days that I even brought my boots in the hope of a late call up, this could only partially explain the lack of numbers.

There is a feeling among the team’s support that we are more than happy to be here and a little resentful towards some sectors of the British media regarding the over-hyped violent nature of the host nations. This has not been in evidence whilst we have been here and long may it continue. ‘We’re not going home, we’re not going home, we’re not going, we’re not going, we’re not going home’… not til Tuesday at least.

Euro surprise

Yesterday was my first visit to the fan zone in Kiev and I wasn't disappointed. The camaraderie between the English and the Swedish supporters was excellent and I anticipate that relationship staying the same for tonight's game. It was certainly embellished by the Swedish band on show singing some Oasis classics. What ever happened to Abba?

What followed did come as a slight surprise as a middle aged woman came to me offering sex. When I declined she then said it was for money, perhaps expecting me to change my mind. I did not and I suggested she should head towards the Swedish contingent offering her services as they have more money than the English. She took heed of my advice and headed in their direction.

One disappointing footnote has to be aimed in the direction of the Official England Supporters bar where they are trying to exploit fans by charging relatively extortionate prices, three times that of just about anywhere else in the city, including the fan zone which it neighbours.

Mixed fortunes

Support: The fans in full voice against France

Taking an elongated route through Istanbul, I thought I would not meet so many England fans en route to the Ukraine. How wrong I was.

They packed out the sports bar at the airport, as they watched Ireland get beaten by Croatia.

The flight was, to put it positively, boisterous. To put it negatively, though, some of the fans’ abuse of the flight attendants was shameful.

England fans tend to reach both extremes. Having photos taken with the police as they exchange pleasantries and gifts brings a smile to the face. Seeing fans shout sexual and racial abuse towards anyone who gets in their way undoes all the good work of the majority. 

After all the build up surrounding racial prejudice in the Ukraine, it came as a surprise to hear the first chants of this nature coming from an English contingent on the flight over from Istanbul.

Anyway, on the day of the game things were much calmer throughout the industrial town of Donetsk as most of the support decided to chill out in the shade provided by the huge tents in and around the fan zone.

The rest congregated at the Golden Lion pub where they mixed well with the French supporters who had braved the conditions to enter into the zone where they knew the England fans would hang out. ‘Where were you in World War II’ chants were shouted across the bar whilst the French riposte of ‘Ooh ah, Cantona’ bemused this observer.

As the crowd left the English pub the first sign of trouble reared its ugly head as half a dozen Russian fans (The Russian border is just 100 kilometres away), wearing CCCP t-shirts, charged through where the England fans were walking and attacked an equally small group of supporters, proceeding to kick and punch some whilst they struggled on the ground. The incident was over in a matter of minutes and no one, thankfully, appeared seriously injured but there was the disturbing sight of policemen stood watching as the events unfolded.

The stadium was conveniently located just fifteen minutes on foot from the town centre and once inside the Donbass arena the English contingent soon found their voice. It was great to hear their support of the new England manager with frequent chants of ‘Roy Hodgson’s barmy army’ but the chalk and cheese element returned with other songs about ten German bombers and ‘We’re going home in a coffin’, in reference to Sol Campbell’s comments.

The game passed by fairly peacefully. Of course there was a delirious response to England’s goal, before realism returned when Samir Nasri equalised for the French.

And this in itself paraphrased everything you need to know about English football fans. Delirium followed by realism. Optimism followed by pessimism. Good humoured followed by poor taste. Welcome to Euro 2012.

From the index to his captain having sex: the stumble and fall of Fabio Capello

It is almost two years to the day since the now ex-England boss Fabio Capello's decline began with the ill-fated 'Capello index'. This was a weird notion where points would be awarded for the overall performance of each player, then even more bizarrely making that information public.

It is as if ever since that day things just seemed to have gone from bad to worse for the former Real Madrid boss.

He was a hugely successful manager with a CV as glowing as you could possibly want, titles in Spain and Italy, not to mention a Champions League winner. He had spells with something not too dissimilar to a who's who of European football (Roma, AC Milan, Juventus and Madrid).

For the first two years it looked like the English Football Association had finally found their man. A proven winner who was continuing that rich vein of form for his new employers.

England qualified for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa with consummate ease and Don Fabio could do no wrong. Then came the index and it all began to unravel just prior to FIFA's showpiece event.

Bad preparation

After the index, there was the decision to play England at altitude in their friendlies prior to the last World Cup, as well as base them at a training camp in Rustenburg 1500 metres above sea level in South Africa and not giving the players sufficient rest from the rigours of a Premier League season.

Graeme Souness was highly critical of such preparation. He told  The Sun: "Your body is demanding oxygen.

Your brain is telling your kidneys 'I need more EPO' which is a growth hormone which helps you produce more red blood cells, which enables you to push more oxygen through your body.

"So, for three or four weeks that's happening, so you're going down and down and down. After that, you start to recover."

The players looked laboured throughout the debacle in South Africa and Capello has to take some repsonsibility for that.

The wrong squad in South Africa

There was immense surprise and disappointment at the decision to omit Theo Walcott from his squad for the 2010 World Cup. Then news filtered through that he wanted to take Owen Hargreaves who had not started a game for nearly two years. Sir Alex Ferguson ridiculed the idea of taking his non-playing crippled midfieler. Capello eventually plumped for Gareth Barry, who also looked well short of fitness having not played for the last two months of the season.

The wrong goalkeeper

Then we had the lamentable situation regarding the number one jersey in South Africa. It was clear to all and sundry that the most talented goalkeeper in the squad was Joe Hart. Capello claimed he lacked experience, but it was the manager's fault for that lack of game time for not picking him prior to the tournament, particularly in the friendly against Ghana three months before the World Cup began.

The wrong formation

We had one decent striker going into that World Cup - Wayne Rooney (albeit his performances never lived up to expectations). The best thing to have done would be to have played Rooney up front with Steven Gerrard in support. From Gary Lineker to Michael Owen, it was clear to all the experts the way to go but our £6 million a year head coach could not spot it.

Capello claimed that English players only new how to play 4-4-2. The 65 year-old clearly hadn't watched much football in recent years as he would have seen English clubs dominate the Champions League with just one up top in something that could be described as anything but 4-4-2. Furthermore, Rooney had performed remarkable feats as the lone frontman, and Gerrard had had a similarly successful season playing as an attacking midfielder (behind Torres).

Captain not so fantastic

What I just do not get with this whole John Terry business is it was Capello who was angry with JT after his now infamous press conference in South Africa, undermining the Italian with his comments about standing up to the coaching staff.

It was also Capello who stripped Terry of the captaincy for a far less serious issue (sleeping with the ex-girlfriend of a former team-mate) than we are currently dealing with.

Then we see the Italian gifting him back the armband soon after the World Cup, and now apparently resigning as he did not want to see the Chelsea centre-half lose the captaincy once more.

Just to add to the confusion, Capello has always stated his amusement at the English fascination with the whole importance of who the captain is.

Finally on this whole JT story: why on earth has the trial been postponed until July anyway? Ron Gourlay, Chelsea's chief executive, informed the judge it would be impossible for all the necessary witnesses to appear in court due to work commitments. First of all that's rubbish. And even if it were true, completely irrelevant. You cannot skip a court appearance due to such frivolous reasons.

Anyway, I digress, Fabio's reputation, at least in England, is in tatters and the guy who accused him of 'killing' Gerrard a couple of years ago for playing the Liverpool man out of position has a stock that could not be any higher. Maybe Paul Gascoigne calling him 'Sir' Harry earlier this evening on Sky Sports was not so ill-placed afterall.

Mind games

To understand why England have improved so much during Fabio Capello's first year in charge we need to look deeper than the introduction of Theo Walcott onto the international stage or the re-invention of Emile Heskey as a fulcrum for Wayne Rooney to play off. It was all in the mind.

And the single most significant moment during Capello's reign so far came after the 1-0 defeat to France back in the spring. "I told the players I was very happy", the Italian mused. "I think the players were surprised as most were disappointed with the result but I told them that we played well for 30 minutes. If we can play well for 30 minutes against a good team like France in Paris then we can play well for the whole game I reminded them.

He continued: "We had taken a big step forward from the Switzerland game which also pleased me. Before that game (against Switzerland) we had trained very well but then when we played at Wembley in front of 90,000 fans we played badly. It was then that I realised the problem was a mental one and not a physical one.

Hearing Capello elaborate this week on the reasons why England proudly sit top of their World Cup qualifying group with a 100 per cent record was reminiscent of hearing a young Nick Faldo. When Faldo won his first senior title he realised he could win one title every year. Upon this realisation he thought: 'If I can win one title per year, then why can't I win five?' His improvement was dramatic and his mental fortitude will always go down as one of his biggest strengths.

If England are to realise their dreams at the World Cup in South Africa in 2010 then they will surely have to adopt an ability to cope with the pressure similar to that of Germany. The Germans have not missed a penalty in a competitive match since 1976. That includes shoot-outs and penalties in open play. England, meanwhile, have exited five major tournaments after their failure from 12 yards. It is likely that success in a penalty shoot-out will be necessary if England are to be successful in South Africa. Four out of the last five winners of the World Cup have had to successfully negotiate a penalty shoot-out en route.

Capello has a squad at his disposal capable of going far in South Africa but then so do seven or eight other nations. The difference between the winners and the also-rans is usually small. It is usually a mental one.