With the mercury hovering around 90 degrees pitchside it was a day for mad
dogs and Englishmen and Wayne Rooney.
There are some who might say Rooney manages to combine the two.
But, let's face it, Rooney brings something to this English side which they
have not had since the days of Paul Gascoigne and if that is bad as well as good
then England will have more reasons to thank Rooney than to criticise him in the
years to come.
If his display against Switzerland was anything to go by he might just
be the spark they require to go deep into this tournament, perhaps even to
lifting their first major trophy for 38 years.
He might get sent off in their next game. That's the thing with Rooney.
No-one
quite knows what is coming next.
Not Sven-Goran Eriksson, who relayed the word to assistant Steve McClaren to
tell Rooney to stop racing around like a bull mastiff in search of a bone,
anyone's bone.
Not David Beckham, who did likewise when Rooney was booked for a studs-showing
clash with Swiss goalkeeper Jorg Stiel after which he seemed bent on
retribution.
And certainly not Switzerland, who watched Rooney head the crucial goal to
become the youngest player at 18 years and 237 days to score in a European
Championships.
There followed a routine straight out of football's version of 'One Flew Over
the Cuckoo's Nest.'
He did a flying somersault, kicked down the corner flag, booted a television
microphone into the next life before being restrained with a fatherly arm around
the shoulders by Gary Neville.
That was not his only contribution to an England side which for long periods
looked drained, mentally and physically, from their dramatic defeat by France
last Sunday.
There were nonchalant flicks, little dragbacks and a Scouse swagger which
verged on arrogance.
And, of course, the ferocious shot in the 75th minute which cannoned off the
post, hit goalkeeper Stiel on the head and ended up in the Switzerland net.
Class, style.... and luck as well.
Eriksson truly is the most fortunate of
managers to inherit the most natural footballing talent in England for a
generation.
I dwell on Rooney's performance because otherwise there was very little else
to commend an England display, even though their 3-0 victory makes them
favourites to progress from Group B in second place behind France.
If West Brom full-back Bernt Haas had not got himself sent off for two
agricultural challenges on Steven Gerrard and then Ashley Cole, leaving
Switzerland to play the last half-hour with 10 men, this could even have become
an embarrassing afternoon for Eriksson.
Indeed, if it had been a boxing match Switzerland might well have got the
verdict on points, if not on punches.
The diamond formation lasted all of five minutes as Switzerland swept through
England's midfield with such ease that it was either change or perish.
The flat midfield did not fare much better as Switzerland playmaker Hakan
Yakin proved by far the most creative force on the pitch.
England simply do not look happy with the chopping and changing and surely it
must be wiser to settle on a formation which puts all the players in their
comfort zone and challenge the opposition to beat you from a position of
strength.
Against a better side England would not have got away with squandering so much
possession.
If Switzerland had a finisher worth the description they would also have been
punished, such was the quality of Hakan Yakin's set-piece delivery.
Michael Owen, substituted after 75 minutes for the second successive game,
continues to appear out-of-sorts, while David Beckham still cannot exert his
authority.
And while Gerrard scored England's third goal and played in fits and starts it
is Frank Lampard who continues to carry England's midfield challenge.
And yet let's not be churlish. In the end England won convincingly even if the
scoreline was overly flattering.
No, the performance will not have frightened Spain or Portugal, nor even
Greece, either of whom are likely opponents if they make it to the
quarter-final.
It is results which are all that count at international level.
And this was the result England desperately required after the dramatic defeat
by France after which the big question was always going to be how England would
deal with it psychologically.
Would morale be visibly dented? Or would England utilise their sense of
injustice to produce a performance of raging fire?
Neither was the case.
In the end a difficult job was done satisfactorily and
if the same occurs against Croatia on Monday then no-one will recall the odd
jitter here.
They'll just remember a man called Rooney on a mad-hot afternoon and the
England fans bursting into repeated renditions of 'Football's Coming Home.' A
bit premature but the dream lives on.
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