Eriksson's experiment turns to humiliation

England 1 Australia 3

The fog that hung over around the Boleyn Ground yesterday descended, last night, into the minds of England's footballers to leave the gloom surrounding Sven Goran Eriksson's team deeper than ever.

Regardless of the second half, when England Future looked a lot more promising than England Present, last night's friendly defeat to Australia was an absolute disaster. It was embarrassing, humiliating and shaming. By the time the kids proved they were all right England were already 2-0 down, having conceded first-half goals to Tony Popovic, of Crystal Palace, and Leeds' Harry Kewell.

Although Francis Jeffers marked his debut with a fine goal the youngsters could not rescue this abject situation and should not have been asked to. Playing them was an enterprising idea but, given the half-time score, any manager with a sense of purpose should have insisted on sending the first team back out and hang the consequences. Eriksson lacked the necessary resolve and the prospects of his leading England to Euro 2004 are likely to suffer for it.

Assuming he resists inevitable calls for his resignation, and there are £2.5m reasons per annum why neither he nor the Football Association will force the issue, his immediate problem is who to select for the forthcoming European Championship qualifiers against Liechtenstein and Turkey in the spring. Even the former tie cannot now be considered a foregone conclusion.

With this match following palsied performances against Slovakia and Macedonia, the players of his World Cup squad, who seemed in the summer to be the basis for long-term success, have been exposed as inadequate. The talent is there but not the mental strength. Either that, or Eriksson is the wrong man to manage them.

It is possible that they may have played themselves back into the form in the second period, motivated by the awfulness of the first half, and that is what several of the team wished. Eriksson, in thrall to the Premiership barons, denied them that opportunity.

For the opening minutes England had looked the more coherent side, but that was hardly surprising since Australia had not played together for more than a year. Chances, however, were elusive, Mark Schwarzer only being concerned by a mis-hit James Beattie cross which veered goalwards. Australia then began using the wings and the game evened up. On the left Stan Lazaridis quickly demonstrated it is not just Brett Lee who has the pace to intimidate Englishmen as he skinned Gary Neville. On the other flank Brett Emerton illustrated why a string of Premiership clubs have attempted to lure him from Feyenoord and, but for a brave intervention by Neville, would have provided Scott Chipperfield with an Australian opener after nine minutes.

Two minutes later England managed their first deliberate effort on goal, a Sol Campbell header from a David Beckham corner which was scrambled clear. Australia, though, had the edge in open play and, in Kewell, an attacker as deadly as a redback's bite.

Kewell had twice sent in rasping drives, one of which brought a fine save from David James, when Paul Scholes committed a foul 30 yards out. Josip Skoko floated it to the far post where Popovic skipped away and above Neville to head in.

England thought they had levelled within five minutes, Scholes tapping in after David Beckham had instigated a counter-attack and Michael Owen delivered a fine cross. Beattie, though, was penalised for impeding Lazaridis.

With Scholes, one of the few par performers, shooting wide, England looked to be establishing a degree of control. Their growing confidence was soon undermined by a string of flowing Australian moves. Mark Viduka drew a superb arching save from James as he broke, unmarked, on to Chipperfield's flick, then released Emerton for a cross Neville just reached ahead of Chipperfield.

With Kewell left unmarked to head wide from the resultant corner, James must have thought he was playing for West Ham, not England. This impression was soon confirmed as Kewell muscled Rio Ferdinand off a through ball, leaving the £30m defender on the ground, before rounding the goalkeeper to score.

England reacted with a series of frantic attacks but Owen followed a miss from Kieron Dyer's flick by mis-kicking when put through by Scholes. With Beckham only hitting the side-netting from another opportunity, the first string were booed off. They deserved no better.

Their 11 replacements included five new caps but, mystifyingly, not the local hero, Joe Cole. The snub seemed perverse especially as, in omitting him, Eriksson had to field an unwieldy 4-3-3 formation.

The youngsters' enterprise warmed the despondent support, especially when Wayne Rooney had their first shot from 20 yards. After Paul Robinson had to touch a Lazaridis free-kick around a post, Owen Hargreaves and Jermaine Jenas drove England forward. After 69 minutes, they deservedly pulled a goal back when Jeffers glanced in a Jenas cross following good work by Rooney.

Although the young shavers continued to impress it was not enough as Australia finished stronger. Emerton took advantage of a rare gap between Wes Brown and Ledley King to run on to John Aloisi's mis-kick and confirm Australia's first win over England.

England 1
Jeffers 70

Australia 3
Popovic 17, Kewell 42, Emerton 84

Half-time: 0-2 Att: 34,590

ENGLAND (First half, 4-4-2): James (West Ham United); G Neville (Manchester United), Campbell (Arsenal), Ferdinand (Manchester United), A Cole (Arsenal); Beckham (Manchester United), Scholes (Manchester United), Lampard (Chelsea), Dyer (Newcastle United); Owen (Liverpool), Beattie (Southampton).

ENGLAND (Second half, 4-4-2): Robinson (Leeds) United); Mills (Leeds United), Brown (Manchester United), King (Tottenham Hotspur), Konchesky (Charlton Athletic); Murphy (Liverpool), Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), Jenas (Newcastle United); Vassell (Aston Villa), Jeffers (Arsenal), Rooney (Everton).

AUSTRALIA (4-4-2): Schwarzer (Middlesbrough); Neill (Blackburn Rovers), Moore (Rangers), Popovic (Crystal Palace), Lazaridis (Birmingham); Emerton (Feyenoord), Okon (Leeds United), Skoko (Genk), Chipperfield (Basle); Viduka (Leeds United), Kewell (Leeds United). Substitutes: Bresciano (Parma) for Skoko, h-t; Aloisi (Osasuna) for Kewell, 56; T Vidmar (Middlesbrough) for Popovic, 72; Grella (Empoli) for Chipperfield, 76; Sterjovski (Lille) for Viduka, 85; Muscat (Rangers) for Okon, 87.

Referee: M Mejuto Gonzalez (Spain).

RED-FACE DAYS: FIVE OTHER EMBARRASSING ENGLAND DEFEATS

United States 1 England 0
Belo Horizonte, 1950

England were one of the favourites to win the 1950 World Cup but their hopes were dashed by the most humiliating defeat in the country's history. The United States, who lost both of their other matches, won with a 37th-minute goal by Larry Gaetjens. England had chosen not to play either Stanley Matthews or Jackie Milburn.

Switzerland 2 England 1
Basle, 1981

England fans rioted after this defeat, which jeopardised qualification for the 1982 World Cup and made up Ron Greenwood's mind to resign as manager. Greenwood made six changes to his team, who were 2-0 down within half an hour. Terry McDermott's second-half goal proved to be only a consolation.

Norway 2 England 1
Oslo, 1981

Until this World Cup qualifying match no England team had failed to score fewer than four goals against Norway. Bryan Robson scored first, but two goals for the home team before half-time on a bumpy pitch prompted a Norwegian commentator's famous jibe: "Maggie Thatcher, your boys took a hell of a beating."

United States 2 England 0
Boston, 1993

Graham Taylor's disastrous reign as England manager reached arguably its most humiliating point with this setback in the US Cup summer tournament, which was labelled "Yanks 2 Planks 0" by one tabloid newspaper back in London. Defeat here was followed by failure to qualify for the 1994 World Cup in America.

Norway 2 England 0
Oslo, 1993

Graham Taylor's team appeared totally bemused by his sweeping tactical changes, which included a three-man defence behind a four-man midfield for this World Cup qualifier. Goals either side of half-time did for England, who returned home to headlines such as "Norse manure" and "Taylor's dummies".