England look to Rooney for goals

England must be much more adventurous against the Swiss and cannot afford to put the emphasis so heavily upon the security of their defence.

ENGLAND will look to the emerging Wayne Rooney to provide them with the goals they need to resurrect their European Championship hopes when they play Switzerland in Coimbra tonight.

Rooney, so persistent, so aggressive against France, has taken over the mantle of main striker from Michael Owen and he will need to reproduce the form that made him such a formidable opponent for the French if England are to recover lost ground.

It will not be easy for England. They will have to find a way to counter the Yakin brothers who in many ways, represent the hard, professional, core of a Swiss team who place a premium on hard work and dedicated team-work.

The elder brother, Murat Yakin, is the lynchpin of the defence and the more enigmatic and skilful Hakan represents the most talented creative force in the Swiss team.

Ireland are well familiar with this pair and with the inspiring effect Hakan can have on the Swiss when he strikes a good day. He was devastating when Switzerland beat Ireland 2-0 in Basle to clinch qualification for this championship and bury Ireland’s hopes.

John Terry will be back in central defence for England alongside Sol Campbell and while this was well flagged by Eriksson even before the defeat by France, it seems harsh on Ledley King.

England must be more adventurous against Switzerland and cannot afford to put the emphasis so heavily upon the security of their defence. It is always possible that they will argue that, by defending in such depth against France and snatching a first-half goal from their only scoring opportunity, they were close to a winning formula.

That may be well and good against a team as uniformly strong and as sophisticated as the French, but England must show more ambition against the Swiss who, at best, would be rated a grade “B” team at this level.

England will need to show improvements in several areas, if they are to live up to their own assessment of their potential. They will need to address the problems that beset the left-flank of their defence and they will need to devise a more balanced and more constructive attacking strategy to utilise the pace of Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen.

There remains a slight doubt over the fitness of Paul Scholes and, if he is forced out of the team, Owen Hargreaves, playing in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich, will replace him.

The Germans showed their usually polished technique and acute understanding of team play when they played Netherlands on Tuesday. Michael Ballack showed all the hallmarks of a classic midfield playmaker and while they were short of players of exceptional ability, it is worth recording that ten of the 11who started the game are playing in the Bundesliga.

From my observations it comes as a surprise to think that Hargreaves has not seen more action with England, but the competition in central midfield is pretty strong with Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard currently the preferred choices.

Ashley Cole’s vulnerability on the left of England’s defence against France was, in part, due to the failure of Scholes to provide him with any back-up. There seemed merit in the suggestion that Chelsea’s Wayne Bridge might have been preferred for this game with Cole, perhaps, playing in front of him.

Eriksson might well have the courage to gamble on switching from a heavily defensive tactical approach to an entirely attacking one given the relative strength of the opposition. If he does then expect to find Scholes playing in a much more central position, just behind Rooney and Owen, with David Beckham, Lampard and Gerrard covering midfield.

Switzerland are looking forward to this game. Morale is high and their relaxed manager, Kobi Kuhn, is looking upon this as their opportunity to make a statement about the current standing of the Swiss side.

Kuhn, who is reportedly earning half-a-million euro a year with the Swiss FA, yesterday showed his sparky personality when he tried to add to the pre-match hype by drawing attention to Eriksson’s £3 million salary when he said: “If England are to advance beyond this round then the manager will have to earn his salary.”

The departure of Nicky Butt with a medial ligament injury robbed Eriksson of one option in midfield but their belief that they were playing the best team in the tournament when they went close to denying the French, meant they firmly believe they can see off the Swiss and go on to qualify in second place.

The Swiss will not succumb that easily, however, and in Alexander Frei they have a potential match-winner.

The Swiss will be well-organised and confident and England’s captain, David Beckham, adopted a sensible attitude when he said: “Switzerland will be feeling good after their draw in their first match and we will have to hit them hard from the start.”

The Yakin brothers aside, the cunning Stephane Chapuisat will play with typical under-stated efficiency at centre-forward, if he is chosen, but the hot temperatures here and his advancing years have not helped him impact so far. He may be overlooked on this occasion with Kuhn going for the younger Ricardo Cabanas who will play just behind the lively Alexander Frei. Raphael Wicky will stretch England on the left and the experienced Johann Vogel will be a combative force in midfield.

It would not surprise me to see England struggle to score, but history has proved that the teams that prosper are those equipped with a very good defence. Ashley Cole’s first-half indecisiveness must have been a worry to England, it is bound to have occupied much of their preparation. I expect them to win, but narrowly.

Probable teams

England (4-4-2): James; Neville, Terry, Campbell, Cole; Beckham (captain), Lampard, Gerrard, Hargreaves; Rooney, Owen

Switzerland (4-3-1-2): Stiel; Haas, Mueller, Yakin, Spycher; Wicky, Celestini, Huggel; Yakin; Chapuisat, Frei.