Weep not for Wayne

While there has been much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth following the injury to Wayne Rooney, let me dare suggest that all of this alarm and despondency is misplaced.

Rooney is a very fine player but he is not a Zidane or Ronaldinho. His loss is not a fatal blow. Brazil has Ronaldinho but, if Lothar Mattaeus is to be taken seriously (which I do), they are far from a “shoo-in” because of weaknesses elsewhere, notably defence and goalie. England has no top-bracket star (the equivalent of Bobby Charlton in ’66) but a veritable gang of players just beneath that level of which Rooney is only one. Gerrard, Lampard and Owen fit in this bracket with Terry and Beckham pretty close. I think Joe Cole could be the “dark horse” who will finally be given a run because of Rooney’s absence. Cole scored a goal against United on Saturday that very few players are capable of scoring ( I haven’t actually seen Rooney score one like it). In a combination of strength, balance, skill, daring and determination, he spun past three United defenders in one move (none of them slouches) and finished clinically. Cole in Rooney’s role, behind Owen, is not much of a come-down, if at all.

Robinson has emerged as a fine keeper and the World Cup could be his place to rise to the next level. Terry is a rock and the rest of the defence is solid: Ferdinand’s tendency to go AWOL is far less of a problem with Terry there and Ferdinand is – make no mistake about this – one of the “class” defenders around these days. No-one wins a World Cup without a classy defender. They usually need a great midfielder and scorer, too but England’s midfield “committee” may prove good enough and Owen is a great scorer. The rest of the names bandied about – Bent, Crouch, etc. - are more-or-less irrelevant. Every squad has solid players just like these but they’re not going to put England over the top.

Speaking of Crouch, here’s a strange phenomenon. Like Koller of Czech, he’s a tall guy with great ball skills – but mediocre in the air! This is one of the great facets of soccer, that normal-sized or even small people can compete; indeed, they have advantages, namely low centre of gravity and quickness. Thus, let me warrant, Crouch is never going to score a goal like Cole”s (see above) (Rooney might). Big guys just go down too easily; the revenge of physics. What is less obvious is why he’s ineffective in the air. It’s essentially the same thing – high centre of gravity which makes him vulnerable to having his balance and timing thrown off by contact. If he didn’t have to compete with other players, he’d be unassailable but he does and he’s not. Let me add that he doesn’t head with power even when he gets an uncontested shot a the ball. Having said all that, I like him and think he’ll be a good role player in Germany in June.