Here's one successful England team

13 April 2012

Picture the scene: six seconds left and everyone in the stadium knows that Argentina are about to win. Thousands of fans are chanting, fireworks light up the sky and klaxon horns drown out every sound. There is time for one last attack but, as ever, England look beaten. History has done for them again.

But hang on a minute, what's happening? The referee blows for a foul and the crowd howl with rage. Argentina's players cannot believe it, but an incredible match is set for one last twist.

Up steps England's ace penaltytaker, easily the star of the team and, ignoring the noise and the nerves, he strikes the ball coolly and clinically between the posts. At last it's all over. England have beaten Argentina 131/2-13.

Unfortunately we are not talking football here, but polo. The last time England recorded a competitive victory over Argentina on a sporting field was in Buenos Aires last April. It rated as one of the biggest upsets in the history of the sport.

Yesterday England's captain Henry Brett recalled the pleasure of that victory in front of 5,000 of their own fans, and offered Sven-Goran Eriksson some timely advice on the best way to emulate the polo team's success today.

"England have got to be positive. If you let them work out your game plan you are in trouble - and the Argentinians are always quick to work these things out," he said.

"Like football, polo is improvised and you have to learn how to contain them.

"I'll be watching the game and I reckon it is all going to depend on David Beckham and Michael Owen. Beckham seems to be the only guy who can mix it at international level. He looks like the only guy who can play under pressure. I saw the Sweden game and I thought England were pretty pathetic."

Brett said the polo team had to cope with a fiercely partisan crowd when they beat Argentina in what is considered the world's premier polo stadium - the Palermo in Buenos Aires.

"They have been playing there for over 100 years and it is the best in the world. It was the biggest field I have ever played in and there were probably 5,000 people watching.

They were all singing the same songs that they do in the football. They all thought they were going to win and then the referee awarded this penalty. We didn't have Beckham, but we had Andrew Hine. He scored the penalty from 30 yards."

Surprisingly, given the importance of the occasion, there were no dirty tricks.

"Although the crows was partisan, the organisers were scrupulously fair. They chose the horses, put them into lots, and drew for them. We don't even do that in England. We get the best horses we can and then it is up to the opposition to get the best horses they can."

In fact, the Argentinians were so fair they even left out some of their best players to ensure a competitive match - something it is difficult to imagine their footballing counterparts doing today.

"They looked at the ability of our players and tried to match them to make the best possible game of it."

Unfortunately, like most sporting tales between England and Argentina, this tale does not have a happy ending.

Four days later Argentina won the rematch 5-3 to take the Eduardo Moore trophy on aggregate.

Of course, England had an excuse: penalty hero Hine missed the game.

Nothing to do with metatarsals, he had to fly to Dubai for a prior engagement.

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Sven-goran Eriksson

Here's one successful England team

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