The chances of England qualifying for the 2002 World Cup in the Far East are still no more than a dim light on the dawn horizon. They are now two points behind Albania and Greece (Albania beat Greece 2-0 last night) at the bottom of their group. As poor starts go, this has to be the pits.
Yet at least England are on the scoreboard with a point obtained from last night's determined if inelegant performance in holding Finland to 0-0 in the Olympic stadium. They are off the mark with football's equivalent of a scrambled leg-bye.
England survived because the Finns could not finish. At the same time Howard Wilkinson's irregulars came so close to snatching victory in a final act of the grandest larceny that they would almost have deserved to win through the sheer cheek of it.
With three minutes remaining Ray Parlour burst out of his shell of anonymity to dart and swerve his way through a Finnish defence which previously had proved about as negotiable as the Baltic in mid-winter. One moment he was faced by five opponents, the next he was past them all.
In goal Antti Niemi could only hope that Parlour suddenly remembered he was not Dennis Bergkamp. Whether he did or not, the Arsenal midfielder let fly from 15 yards but hit the underside of the bar. Television replays suggested the ball bounced down behind the goal-line. The French linesman was well positioned to see the incident but declined to give the goal.
England would have been lucky victors but this would have been just the sort of luck they needed after Saturday's 1-0 defeat by Germany, Kevin Keegan's resignation and its moribund aftermath, with players dropping out of the squad like plague victims.
Of the three up front only Emile Heskey posed any kind of threat to Sami Hyypia and a solid Finnish defence. Teddy Sheringham and Andrew Cole failed to reproduce their successful partnership for Manchester United; Sheringham's passing was off and Cole's control could not have been worse had he been playing with a rugby ball. Why Wilkinson chose not to bring on Michael Owen, only Wilko knows.
Last night's result would have been satisfactory for England had they beaten Germany. As it is, by avoiding defeat, they have given themselves a marginally less fraught interlude before resuming the task of qualifying for 2002 with Finland's visit to Anfield on March 24th.
Initially England put their trust in a right feint and a left hook. That is to say Parlour was little more than a token attacking force on the right, and movements tended to concentrate on releasing Heskey, with his pace, power and aggression, on the left. It was not a bad plan. Heskey had several chances to break away, forcing corners and free-kicks which put Finland under sporadic pressure.
There was nothing wrong in England's determination but again the midfield looked as if it had been recruited from the nearest bus queue and introduced to one another shortly before kick-off. Paul Scholes and Wise consistently found themselves turning into Simo Valakari or Jarkko Wiss. Valakari plays for Derby County, the Premiership's bottom club, and Wiss is an irregular for Stockport County.
Finland dominated much of the second half and, had Parlour scored and England won, justice would hardly have been served. But in their present situation England would have settled last night for a bent judge and a nobbled jury.
Finland: Niemi, Helin (Reini 36), Saarinen (Salli 67), Hyypia, Tihinen, Nurmela, Wiss, Valakari, Forssell (Kuqi 77), Litmanen, Johansson. Subs Not Used: Jaaskelaninen, Kottila, Riihilahti, Kolkka. Booked: Niemi.
England: Seaman, P Neville, Barry (Brown 69), Wise, Southgate, Keown, Parlour, Scholes, A Cole, Sheringham (McManaman 69), Heskey. Subs Not Used: Martyn, Barmby, Ferdinand, J Cole, Owen.
Referee: A Sars (France).
