England’s 2010 World Cup last-16 defeat to Germany remains one of the Three Lions’ most disappointing exits in recent memory.
The post-mortem of the 4-1 thrashing by England’s fierce rivals suggested that there was a lack of harmony in the squad, but former Three Lions midfielder Joe Cole believes that this is far too simple an explanation as to what went wrong in Bloemfontein.
Instead, Cole points to an unfortunate cocktail of injuries, misfortune and refereeing mistakes as the real reasons that Fabio Capello’s side fell short.
Joe Cole on England’s 2010 struggles
Asked if morale was a factor in the defeat to Germany, Cole insists that the outcome was dictated more by footballing factors than dressing room dynamics.
“No,” he tells FourFourTwo. “The Germany game turned out that way because they were a great side and I think we had some players playing who weren’t quite fit.
The build-up to the 2010 World Cup was indeed dominated by injury doubts to key players, leaving Capello to shuffle his pack in South Africa.
“Becks was injured, Rio was injured – you had Matty Upson and JT [John Terry] in defence, but JT was playing on the right, so there were a lot of things,” Cole adds, before turning to another point of contention.
The last-16 tie against Germany had seen England concede in the 20th and 32nd minutes as Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski respectively put Joachim Löw’s side in control.
Upson had given England a lifeline when he scored seven minutes before the break, with Frank Lampard following this up a minute later with a long-range strike that hit the crossbar, bounced over the goalline before spinning back onto the field of play - only for the referee not to award the goal.
“Then a bad decision by the officials, because Frank Lampard scored and it should have been 2-2,” the former West Ham, Chelsea and Liverpool man laments.
With England currently looking to end 60 years of hurt during this summer’s tournament in North America, Cole insists that the Three Lions also need fate to go their way.
“It’s never just one thing,” he goes on. “That’s why in this World Cup, everything needs to work. If the big man upstairs says it’s England’s time, then it’s England’s time.”
This is a view shared by his former club and country team-mate Ashley Cole, who also believes that luck is among the attributes that England need this summer.
"I think England can win it,” the former Three Lions left-back adds. “We showed the level we can get to by reaching finals, semi-finals. It’s just the next part – luck, weather, players staying fit, the bits you can’t control. We’ve certainly got the players to do it, they’ve just got to have the belief.
Could It Be Coming Home? with Joe Cole and Ashley Cole is brought to you by Carling, official sponsor of the Emirates FA Cup and Adobe Women’s FA Cup. Watch the show on YouTube and Spotify, or listen to it wherever you get your podcasts
