A competition which has largely gone by unwatched by me; the only game I saw was the only one not featuring any of my Spurs lads. England did reasonably well, however, and it is striking to see such a comparatively strong side of players on this level – most of them with plenty of Premiership experience. The game against Italy, which I watched, was very entertaining and contained some nice football. Perhaps the future of English football is not so dark after all?
Tom Huddlestone reaped praise for his efforts early on, but his absence in the Italy game was said to be a contributing factor to the increased pace of England’s game. Hmm. His sending off in the unpleasant game against Serbia (which has prompted new moves against racism) still baffles me; judging by the composed look of bewilderment on his face upon receiving the card, Tom was similarly affected. Anyone who knows what actually happened, feel free to comment.
After drawing 0-0 with the Czech Republic and 2-2 with Italy, England beat Serbia 2-0 and came up against Holland in the semi-finals. The team came very close to a 1-0 win, but the game ended a draw and had to be decided by a marathon of a penalty shootout. England at any level tend to find penalties problematic, but at 13-12 you’ve done pretty well despite losing. Special mention to Stephen Taylor of Newcastle who played on despite injury and then took, and scored, one of the penalties.
Elsewhere, Paul Stalteri and Canada did not make it past the semi-final stage of the CONCACAF cup, as they were beaten by the USA 2-1.
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