James says, “The marking of Wayne Rooney and the Frank Lampard ‘goal’ killed us”.

July 1, 2010

We’ve not heard too much from England players since the World Cup axe fell, but David James has made some telling comments and reckons the tight and effective marking of Wayne Rooney by well-drilled opponents was a key factor.

The England keeper says that, despite his previous injury problems leading up to the World Cup, Rooney’s match fitness – or lack of it – wasn’t an issue.

“I didn’t notice a lack of fitness,” said James. “We did some shooting the day before the game and he was smashing them past me. I was hoping that would be replicated in the game.

“The trouble for Wayne in this tournament was that all the opposition expected him to be the danger man and they did what they could to nullify his offensive capabilities.

“You have to give credit to the opposition. Teams know how good he is. They did all they could to stop him from playing. He wasn’t given freedom and against Germany there were times when he had to come deep to pick the ball up.

“If he has to do that, then he’s not getting the joy up front. That has to be credit to the opposition and the way they nullify him.”

James believes the result against Germany might have been different had Frank Lampard’s goal that never was had stood, and that going in at half time on level terms and in the ascendancy would have given England the second half edge.

He said: “Given that we were putting them under a lot of pressure at the time it would have put us on parity. We would have gone in at half time in much more positive mood.

“This has obviously changed the game. At 2-2 of course we are on the up. It would have been a much different story in the second half. There were possibly two people on that pitch who didn’t see that ball go over the line - the referee and the linesman. You do not need technology for that.

“The frustration is that we defended well and they have scored three goals on counter attacks which has killed the game.”

James turns 40 in August but hopes this is not the end of his England career, having re-established himself as No.1 at the tournament.

James said: “There will never be a retirement from me as long as I’m playing football. Certainly it was not in my plans to go home now.

“I’ve seen the younger goalkeepers we’ve got and some of are pretty good. Hopefully, they will put themselves in the position and do the right thing for England.”

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