Epic! An unbelievable spectacle… a true test of physical endurance… a gritty, passionate performance full of skill and determination.
Obviously I'm not talking about England's win over Slovenia, but the Mahut v Isner tennis match at Wimbledon. I began the evening eager to watch the Germany v Ghana game to suss out England's next potential opponents, but after hearing that the game was still going and 52 games to 53 in the fifth set, I just had to check it out!
I'm not a fan of tennis as a rule, but catch parts of Wimbledon when I'm not washing my hair or watching paint dry. The part of the match that I caught though was the embodiment of everything we haven't seen from England's footballers so far. Although shattered, the American and Frenchman kept on battling, both still serving aces and also hitting some great returns. Bad light stopped play before either could make the breakthrough and no, I wouldn't want to see England have to go to extra time and penalties every game! But, the tennis players must have had an enormous sense of self-belief and drive to both keep going as they did; that's what the England players appear to have been lacking.
Granted, Capello's side was far better against Slovenia that it was in the previous two drab games, but I'm not convinced that we've got this 'momentum' that the BBC commentators were banging on about yet. How can you have momentum from one improved performance?! Anyway, more fight and self-belief would go a long way I reckon. It was refreshing to see Fabio change things a bit though and it paid off with Jermain Defoe and James Milner coming in and doing what they do week in week out in the Premier League.
Who would have believed that before the World Cup started, the French would surrender early, the USA would come through at the last minute and we'd be left facing the Germans?!
The England team now needs to find another level to make sure it's not embarrassed by players from the land of bratwurst and sour kraut. Where would the 'fun' be though if England always did things the easy way?! Germany and then possibly Argentina is a much more mouthwatering path to the final, albeit across far more testing terrain, than Ghana then Uruguay or South Korea!
The Germans haven't exactly set the tournament alight so far, but have looked a more convincing unit than the Group C runners up. But, like Wolves, England have a habit of playing better as the underdogs, so let's hope we see that on Sunday. Just a shame that Fabio hasn't got Matt Jarvis sat on the bench to come on and run at a few defenders down the left hand side of midfield!
I don't know what my cats, Jake and Elwood would have made of the latest England performance as they were sunning themselves outside all day - probably just too nervous to watch another claw-biting performance. I'm sure their attentions will be fixed firmly on the TV on Sunday though (Jake in particular likes to curl up and sleep on it!)
History was made at Wimbledon last night. Now it's time for the England footballers to write theirs this weekend.
