Seaman's blunder costly for England

Some of England's greatest enterprises have set sail from Southampton's docklands, but so did the Titanic. It was the latter image that came to mind last night as England resumed their journey towards Portugal and immediately hit choppy waters.

Against opponents rated 90th in the world ­ between Jordan and Kenya ­ Sven Goran Eriksson's team started complacently and ended frantically. Undone by a mistake that should bring a belated halt to David Seaman's international career, they twice trailed to bold opponents. Well-taken equalisers from David Beckham, one of the few England players to perform well, and Steven Gerrard earned a draw. Although Jonathan Woodgate had a late shot cleared off the line, England deserved no more.

Given that this was a competitive home match, it was England's worst outing since 1983, when they were held to a goalless draw at Wembley by Greece and then suffered a home defeat by Denmark. Bobby Robson was the manager then. Seven years later he led England to the World Cup semi-finals. No one would bet on Eriksson leading a similar transformation. With Turkey thrashing Liechtenstein 5-0 last night, it will be a struggle even to qualify for the 2004 European Championship finals in Portugal. England are already five points adrift in Group Seven.

Eriksson had chosen his team with an eye to playing in the finals as much as reaching them. Woodgate, 22, was preferred to Gareth Southgate, 10 years his senior, in central defence. Wayne Bridge was given a chance to fill the vacuum on the left flank, enabling Eriksson to drop the diamond shape in midfield. With Emile Heskey pulling up lame, Alan Smith was given his first competitive start. Sol Campbell, 28 last month, was the oldest outfielder.

Not, though, by a long chalk, the oldest player. The 39-year-old Seaman had that dubious honour and within 10 minutes it was clear the years were taking their toll. After Vanco Trajanov found Ashley Cole out of position, forcing the Arsenal defender to concede a corner, Artim Sakiri trotted across to take it. On the eve of the match Eriksson had noted that the Bulgarian-based midfielder, who once won a Swedish title alongside Freddie Ljungberg, "had a good left foot and was dangerous at corners". Unfortunately Seaman had not paid attention. The kick looped over the flat-footed goalkeeper and inside the far post.

As a one-off it could be forgiven. But since Ronaldinho, Gianfranco Zola and Gareth Farrelly have all taken advantage of similar lapses within the last four months it can hardly be regarded as a one-off.

England were shocked but responded well. Less than three minutes had elapsed when Scholes chipped a pass to Beckham and he neatly lobbed Milosevski. St Mary's settled back, confident that the surprises were behind them, but Seaman's was merely the first of several unforced individual errors. Midway through the half England were punished again. Gerrard's lazy pass was intercepted and though Sakiri wasted the gift when he played the ball straight to Campbell, the defender steered it into the path of Trajanov on the edge of the box. Seconds later Seaman was reaching into his net again.

England again sought a quick riposte but Beckham, Scholes and Owen all had chances before Smith, one-on-one, finally forced Milosevski to make a save. Smith did not dwell on his failure, soon recovering a half-cleared 36th-minute corner. The ball fell to Gerrard, who lashed in a volley. There was still time before the break for Beckham to be booked as he attempted to block Sakiri's long throws.

When England re-emerged after the break it seemed Eriksson had decided against tactical tinkering on the scale of the Slovakia match last Saturday, but Gerrard was sitting deeper, England moving to a 4-1-3-2 formation. It made little immediate difference, the elusive Sakiri drifting behind Woodgate and into a prime scoring position. Seaman partially redeemed himself, reacting quickly to block.

Gerrard, having lobbed just over from a set-piece, was then carried off with a hip injury. On came Nicky Butt and, soon after, Darius Vassell. Eriksson appeared to switch to 4-3-3 with Smith on the right flank, Vassell on the left and Owen in the centre. It was a formation he had expressly ruled out on Tuesday.

England began to dominate possession without ever seeming in complete control. The Macedonians appeared far more coherent, England a collection of individuals. The shambles at the back was illustrated when a misunderstanding between Seaman and Gary Neville led to the goalkeeper hurling the ball out for a throw-in. Further up the field it was all on fast-forward with no one taking grip of the game. Woodgate, after positive work from Butt, saw Robert Popov clear his late shot off the line and Smith was then set up by Owen and Vassell. A yard either side of Milosevski and he would have been the hero. Instead he clattered needlessly into a Macedonian calf and saw red.

The only consolation was that they were not the only famous humbled giant last night. Eriksson for the Azzurri?

England 2
Beckham 14, Gerrard 36

Macedonia 2
Sakiri 11, Trajanov 25

h-t: 2-2 Att: 32,095

ENGLAND (4-4-2): Seaman (Arsenal); Neville (Manchester United), Campbell (Tottenham) Woodgate (Leeds United), Cole (Arsenal); Beckham (Manchester United), Gerrard (Liverpool), Scholes (Manchester United), Bridge (Southampton); Owen (Liverpool), Smith (Leeds United). Substitutions: Butt (Manchester United) for Gerrard, 55; Vassell (Aston Villa) for Bridge, 58.

MACEDONIA (4-5-1): Milosevski (Malatyaspor); Popov (Belasica), Sedlovski (Dinamo Zagreb), Vasoski (Vardar Skopje), Petrov (Lokomotiv Plodiv); Grozdanovski (C55 Skopje), Trajanov (Lokomotiv Plodiv), Sumolikoski (Synot), Mitrevski (Grasshopper Zurich), Sakiri (CSKA Sofia); Tolevski (Napredok Kicevo). Substitutions: Pandev (Spezia) for Toleski, 62; Stojanoski (Partizan Belgrade) for Trajanov 90.

Referee: A D Ibanez (Spain).