English football under spotlight as whistle blows

AT LAST Wembley, Saturday June 8th, 3.00 p.m. and some footie. England expects every man to do his duty and all that, just so long as it doesn't extend to the hooligans.

Clearly, with the crass Football's Coming Home a number one hit in Britain, the founders of the game haven't been so expectant for 30 years, and yet more reruns of `66 merely prove that no nation has ever dined out so much on one came.

Viewed in that light from this side of the Irish sea, it would be hard not to enjoy the Swiss puncturing some of England's typically inflated self importance this afternoon. Yet, to be fair, with their heritage, their improved stadiums, their superb television coverage, England could be the best hosts, yet, for the best European Championship, yet.

That is, provided the hooligans are kept at bay. End of season incidents at or, more pertinently away from some grounds indicates the problem has merely been controlled, not curtailed.

The English squad's antics in Hong Kong and on the journey home cannot have set much of an example. Nor can some tabloids' whipping up of anti German sentiment over Geoff Hurst's hat trick ball.

For England and the FA, the stakes could hardly be higher as Euro `96 is undoubtedly a trial run for the 2006 World Cup finals, for which a bid can be anticipated immediately after these finals.

From a business as well as a nationalistic viewpoint, the organisers must be praying for an extended English run.

The finals themselves don't necessarily need a strong showing from the hosts the unprecedented quality and quantity of Euro `96 qualifiers suggests that the tournament will maintain interest regardless but it may add to the overall effect if England's interest was kept alive.

In characteristic fashion for a major finals, the draw has been kind to the hosts. Lambs have rarely looked more sacrificial than this seemingly out of sorts Swiss side. Even the fired up Scots appear equally mundane, while injuries are breaking out like a bad rash in the Dutch camp.

Increasingly therefore, this pipe opener has the makings of a relatively handy launching pad towards the quarter finals for the hosts.

Reflecting an exciting, if over hyped, Premiership, Terry Venables's squad is thin on quality, but with the galvanic effect of home advantage, and big performances from a few key players Paul Gascoigne, Darren Anderton, Alan Shearer they are contenders. The Swiss are not.

Furthermore, the kerfuffle arising from the Cat hay Pacific flight and collective responsibility taken for the £5,000 worth of damage will only have hardened the all for one camaraderie within the English squad.

Even Switzerland's Portuguese coach Artur Jorge concurs. England have all the burden of high expectation on them tomorrow and that is in our favour but what has been said about the plane story, which is very complicated, could work against us. It is likely to make the English players even stronger together and with things to prove. I am sure they will be very determined."

The suspicion lurks that Glenn Hoddle may yet be the ultimate beneficiary of Venables's groundwork, for this is a young squad whom the English manager has painstakingly sought to develop into a more modern international team.

Reasonably useful friendly form nine wins, eight draws and one defeat to the World Champions Brazil could only reveal so much, and this afternoon may leave many of the imponderables unanswered.

Not surprisingly, the word from Bisham Abbey yesterday was that Venables may have notions of playing Tony Adams as a lone central defender flanked by all embracing full backs in Gary Neville and Stuart Pearce, a Ajax.

Gareth Southgate now looks like he will be chosen as an auxiliary central defender with a licence to roam into midfield.

The casualty could well be English captain David Platt despite his scoring record of 28 goals in 50 internationals leaving Paul Ince to mind the back tour and Gazza, with Anderton on the right and Steve McManaman patrolling the flanks. Meanwhile the intelligent, if one paced. Teddy Sheringham drops off Shearer, who is seeking to end a run of 13 international blanks.

Suddenly England again resemble the good old 4-4-2 with which Alf Ramsey delivered the Jules Rimet trophy 30 years ago just in case you'd forgotten. But Venables has undoubtedly inculcated a more flexible system, which also embodies genuine wide attacking players.

Pitted against England, the Swiss will probably employ a more rigid and defensive version of 4-4-2. As yet, there is still speculation around the Swiss camp that Artur Jorge might play three strikers in the fashion of his predecessor, the Englishman Roy Hodgson. That would seem boldly fanciful in the circumstances and out of character for the slightly dour, moustachioed Jorge, who is still endeavouring to shake off a conservative reputation.

As Marco Grass and Kubilay Turkyilmaz are already regarded as certain starters up front, the possibility is that the 46 times capped Borussia Dortmund striker Stephane Chapuisat will be left on the bench.

Jorge had indicated he would announce his side yesterday, but explained. "I thought Terry Venables would name his team today but he has not and so neither will I. I will now leave it until two and a half hours before kick off when I have seen Venables's team."

Jorge is ready to spring another surprise by awarding 22 year old Sebastien Jeanneret what is only his second cap as replacement for suspended Everton defender Marc Hottiger. Jeanneret combines his football career with his studies to become a clockmaker a major trade in his home region of Neuchatel, where his grandfather started the family business.

Which reminds us of Orson Welles' sardonic put down of the Swiss in The Third Man. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

Their Eleven Men at Wembley this afternoon seem unlikely to greatly alter that impression.