The Hindu : Trevor Sinclair, a national treasure

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 18, 2002

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Sport - Football

Trevor Sinclair, a national treasure

By Brian Glanville

Seoul June 17. Stranger still becomes this World Cup. True Franz Beckenbauer surprisingly praised and fancies England which responded with that 3-0 conquest of the Danes, whom I'd not been much impressed by when I saw them flag in the heat and draw with the Senegalese.

But who could have expected such abysmal goalkeeping? Two of England's three were pitifully soft and that fumbling of Sol Campbell's header on the first one perhaps traumatised the Danes. Nor was that shot by Emile Heskey remotely irresistible; surely there has seldom been a worse display of World Cup goalkeeping since Brazil's Felix in 1970 became probably the worst 'keeper ever to win a gold medal.

But what a World Cup it has been for Trevor Sinclair, whose cross from the left led to the goal! Called up as a reserve he had, by his own admission, a nightmare of a game in the friendly here against South Korea. Sven Goran Eriksson, who continues to do such strange things at times, sent him all the way home then bizarrely called him back.

Put in his old position of outside-left where he came to the fore with Blackpool in a lower division, Sinclair took wing, all but headed a goal in the next friendly against Cameroon and stayed on to solve what had for so long been England's left flank problem.

All praise, meanwhile, to David Beckham for the immense determination and courage he has shown in overcoming a painful broken bone in his left foot. He has put well behind him the miseries of St. Etienne, when he became the most unpopular player in England after getting himself petulantly sent off against the Argentines in 1998.

What can be said of the Poles? So slow and plodding in their first two games, with two defeats, bar the little Nigeria-born striker Emmanuel Olisadebe, they'd nothing to play for against the U.S. but bang, bang, two sucker punch goals in the first five minutes, and the Americans were out of the money. How did it happen when the U.S. seemed all set to take the Polish defence apart with its agile and quick players? Though inexplicably its coach Bruce Arena left one of the fastest of them — little DaMarcus Beasley — out of its starting line-up, the relatively simple explanation is that the Poles, with nothing to play for but pride, brought in quicker and younger players belatedly. The Poles also played an attacking game right from the start game which the Americans had expected no doubt and showed up what we'd seen in the latter stages of U.S.'s first two games — problems of pace and agility in defence, notably with right-back Anthony Sanneh and the veteran centre-back Jeff Agoos.

The Americans were incredibly lucky to scrape into the next round — as indeed were the far more fancied Italy — thanks to the Portuguese virtually committing suicide against the South Koreans. What a mad foul their striker Joao Pinto committed — a true forward's tackle you might say, to get himself properly expelled in the first half, and a second red card would follow. Yet, it had surely to be significant that even against nine men the South Koreans found it exceedingly hard to get that winning goal even if it was ultimately scored with elegance by Park Ji Song.

That is the last we shall see in a World Cup of that minatory figure, with his fierce left foot, Jose Luis Chilavert, of Paraguay.

Just once in a deadly game I alas saw, against Germany, did he rouse the crowd with the chance of a free kick, but it went over the bar.

How sad for Paraguay, worn down eventually by such a pedestrian Germany team, that its star striker Roque de la Cruz should limp off injured so soon and that quick incisive little attacker Nelson Cuevas of River Plate, who got two goals when he came on in the previous match against Slovenia, should himself have been injured and able to emerge only in the closing minutes though even then he had the time to look vigorously good.

Germany? It had much to thank Oliver Neuville for; the little Swiss-born striker deserved to sweep in that late winning goal. But how the Germans miss a Mehmet Scholl to ring the changes in midfield!

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