Montenegro hold England

Sometimes David beats Goliath, but sometimes Goliath just has a really poor day. No prizes for guessing who was who.

 

It’s needless to say that England travelled to Montenegro knowing that they needed a win. Topping the group is vital for them to secure that place in Rio in 2014.
 

Having been behind for the majority of the campaign, England needed to get out in front.

Montenegro were not to be taken lightly. They did after all, possess two of the best forwards in the Serie A, Mirko Vucinic and Premier League transfer target Stevan Jovetic.

England started the game very well indeed. They attacked quickly and effortlessly, which explains unmarked Wayne Rooney nodding from a Steven Gerrard corner in the 6th minute. 1-0. Easy.

England continued to play like they did against San Marino on Friday; they were comfortable in possession and defended flawlessly. The aforementioned Vucinic and Stevan Jovetic could’t seem to click and failed to maintain a credible threat to the England defense. 

At the other end, there were plenty more chances coming England’s way; Danny Welbeck stretching to meet Rooney’s pinpoint cross, and Rooney straining to get a touch on Milner’s ball in to the box. Credit to Montenegro, they defended well enough.

Half an hour in and Montenegro were starting to dominate possession. Jovetic was getting increasingly more of the ball, and possession was starting to move slowly but steadily into England’s half. However, a lack of creativity and the ability to make the final pass meant that going in at half time, Joe Hart had little else to worry about other than his horrendous goalkeeper kit.

So the second half began. It was like a reversal of roles. Montenegro came out pressing high up the pitch, and England simply could’t deal with the pace of the Montenegrin attack. Wave after wave, and surely an equalizer was coming. 

However, it was a bad day for the two forwards, Jovetic and Vucinic. Chance after chance came their way, but they could’t seem to find the back of the net. 

One of the best was when Mirko Vucinic found himself with the ball on the outside of the of the England box, and with teammates running either side making space, he tried to curl a shot into the bottom right corner, which narrowly missed. Had he have passed, Montenegro would’ve been presented with a goal-scoring chance that even they could’t miss. 

But, England should’t have taken their clean sheet for granted. In the 77th minute, a Montenegrin corner led to a goalmouth scramble, which inevitably resulted in a goal- a cool bottom corner finish from substitute Dejan Damjanovic. 

Suddenly England realized that this wasn’t as straightforward as it was three minutes ago. A draw would result in Montenegro staying top of their group, which would make World Cup qualification very difficult for England. They needed a goal.

 The strange thing was that it took Montenegro scoring for Roy Hodgson and England to realise that another goal was needed, hence winger Ashley Young coming on right after the goal. A top team would know that one goal wasn’t enough to take your foot off the pedal.

England tried. They peppered the Montenegro penalty area with attacks, but the Montenegro defense held firm. Gerrard had a few goes, which included a late free kick which was palmed away by keeper Malden Bozovic.

England’s attempts were in vain. They drew with a team 24 places lower than them in the FIFA world rankings. If they can’t beat Montenegro, how will they cope with Italy, or Spain, or bogey team Germany?

Leander Winden (@LeanderWinden)