Second raters

TIME TO CHANGE ... the negative tactics of England boss Fabio Capello were backed by David Beckham

EIGHTY grand a week superstars, standing on the ball by the corner flag to run the clock down.

No one in the box, no one looking for the pass. All of them way too busy pleading with the ref to blow for time and put them out of their misery.
As far as wastes of time go, Capello's two years in charge of England have nothing on those last three minutes in Port Elizabeth.
And hell mend him and his players for it.
Because had they been more interested in chasing a second goal rather than being scared witless about losing one, they might have won their group.
Had their coach not taken both his strikers off to protect the lead, he might not have spent last night fretting over the prospect of facing Germany in the next round. But no. He tells them to hump it as far from their own box as possible and get their body between it and the nearest Slovenian.
Bloody hell. If that's how much tactical courage £6million a year buys you these days, God help football.
The Slovenians were no better, mind.
Hell mend them too for being happy enough to sit there a goal down and gamble that it'd be enough to sneak them through.
Like the English, they got what they deserved.
So too did the Yanks. But for so much more positive a reason.
From first to last in all three games, Bob Bradley's boys have shown what it means to be in a World Cup. Behind to England, they scrapped back to earn a draw and were only denied a win by the width of a post.
Two down at half-time to Slovenia, they were denied the win at the death by a terrible refereeing decision.
And yesterday, knowing their fate was in their own hands, they had a perfectly good goal chalked off for a non-existent offside, hit the post and went into added time all but down and out.

So fair play to them for keeping going right to the end. All power to them for surging forward until the chance finally fell and Landon Donovan put it away.
That's how you win groups, Fabio - by going for it, not bottling it.
The last 16 might well be as far as those Yanks get. But I'll tell you this, if they go out they'll go out with not an ounce of themselves left on that pitch.
Donovan's tears at full-time told you that winning here meant everything to him.
Could England have said the same about themselves had their campaign ended yesterday? No chance. Too many of them seem to think they can get away with doing just enough. More than a few of them have done hee-haw.
Glen Johnson. Ashley Cole. Frank Lampard. Emile Heskey. Wayne Rooney. About half a million a week in wages between them and worth about one per cent of it on their current form.
Listen, I couldn't have cared less if they went out yesterday and it won't bother me either way if they go on and win the trophy now.
But what DOES bother me is seeing guys with egos the size of Roman Abramovich's yacht swanning into the last 16 when others from lesser nations have run their guts out and got nowhere.
South Africa sweated blood in their three games. They ran, they chased, they attacked non-stop. For me, they had far more right to go through than England have.
Not least because they had to slug it out in a hellishly hard section compared to Capello's, described in this paper's London edition as EASY - England, Algeria, Slovenia, Yanks.
With a couple of different breaks of the ball, the order could easily have ended the other way round.
Of course, the English would hardly be the first big-name country to go far in the World Cup after starting like arthritic tortoises.
France drew their first two games in 2006 and made the final, as did Argentina after losing to Cameroon in the 1990 opening game. Italy triumphed in 1982 after drawing all three group matches.
If Steven Gerrard and his mates follow in any of their studmarks, though, I'll eat David Beckham's grey suit.
See, France had Zidane. Argentina had Maradona. Italy had Paolo Rossi.
England's great hope was that in Rooney they had an icon who'd drag the rest along the way those legends did.
But he looks leg-weary, half-fit, luckless and frustrated.
Two months ago, he'd have buried that chance he had in the second half against Slovenia - unmarked, 12 yards out, whites of the keeper's eyes - without thinking.
Yesterday, he swung at it wearily and gave goalie Samir Handanovic the chance to fingertip it onto a post.
His fed-up look to the heavens said everything about his mood. As did his refusal to look in Capello's direction when he was subbed soon after.
Truth is, without Rooney in peak shape and on top form, England are bang ordinary.
One well-taken Gerrard goal against the Yanks. One half-decent Lampard effort against the Algerians. A goal off Defoe's shin that Handanovic should have saved. And that's been their World Cup so far.
Entertainment value? Nil.
Star quality? Nil.
Fantasy football? Nil.
We're Not Going 'Ome, their legions sang as the final whistle finally blew.
But if they had, would anyone have missed them?