England’s inadequacies ruthlessly exposed

England had not lost a game after leading 2-0 since the 1970 World Cup but did so against Portugal.

Needing only a draw against Romania they somehow found themselves 2-1 ahead and although the penalty which gave the Romanians a 3-2 victory came a minute from time the result was entirely fair.

The 1-0 victory over Germany, so important at the weekend, now counts for nothing.

Coach Kevin Keegan has identified a failure to pass well as the underlying reason for their exit but the problems are far more widespread and deeply ingrained.

England’s path to Wednesday’s Charleroi exit has been that of a drunken man, staggering for a few yards before crashing into every other lamppost while assuring observers of his sobriety.

Playing badly, they scraped into the qualifying play-offs after defeat to Sweden, two draws with Bulgaria and one with Poland.

After winning 2-0 in Glasgow they lost 1-0 to Scotland at home to make the finals very much by the back door.

“You might laugh but we can win the European Championship now,” Keegan said at the time. It seems laughable now.

Keegan inherited a team low on spirit and lifted it in that department — which is his chief talent. But in all other areas they have gone backwards from the advances made under Terry Venables and Glenn Hoddle.

After being completely over-run in midfield by Portugal, Keegan’s assistant Les Reed said that Portugal had done exactly what had been expected but admitted that England were powerless to stop them.

The two teams were playing a totally different sport. Portugal, with five in midfield, pouring forward with movement and variety, England, nominally with four, chasing them.

The Germany match restored Keegan’s faith in his players and his system. He said he expected the victory to be belittled because of the paucity of the German side but the Germans’ 3-0 defeat to a weakened Portuguese side on Tuesday merely validates the point.

England versus Germany was a throwback match. A private battle between two sides strong on aggression and almost totally bereft of creativity. England, who barely mustered a shot for 30 minutes, edged it thanks to the poor finishing of the Germans and some commited defending.

There was always a danger that that monumental victory, the one England fans wanted above any other, would blind Keegan to his problems and so it did.

Starting with the same line-up against Romania he found it was Portugal all over again — overwhelmed, the players were frozen like a rabbit in a car’s headlights as they failed to do anything to change the course of the match.

The marking and communication were awful, the passing, what little there was, shocking and individual mistakes and bad decisions, some embarrassingly bad, littered every department. England were totally outclassed.

As usual, the effort could not be faulted but even Keegan admitted a team could not win at this level chasing the ball for an hour of every match.

The coach, likeable and honest, was a great player in his time but the performances at Euro 2000 have raised serious and stark questions about his suitability as an international manager.

His loyalty to ageing skipper Alan Shearer may have brought him two goals but his captain’s contribution throughout the three games was negligible.

Phil Neville gave away the decisive penalty against Romania with the sort of woeful challenge which just about summed-up his tournament.

Keegan had experimented with left-footed players but when it came to the crunch he ignored them, leaving his side hopelessly unbalanced both in attack and defence.

A good second half in last month’s friendly against Ukraine came with five in midfield but at the crunch Keegan went back to 4-4-2 because the players “feel comfortable” with it — not as comfortable as the opposition.

Now he must start again but with a World Cup qualifier against Germany looming large in October he has little time to change things, even if he wanted to.