Even in times like these, with England approaching a World Cup quarter-final against Brazil, an event that would have seemed as unlikely as a football match on Mars 18 months ago, there has to be a perceived weakness. And England's weakness, according to virtually all the nation's football critics, is Emile Heskey.
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Until Sunday night he had not scored for England since rattling home the side's fifth goal in the rout of Germany in Munich last September. It was clear that in Sven-Goran Eriksson's mind this apparent drought had not affected his fitness to play for his country.
"You're missing something," Steve McClaren, one of Eriksson's assistants, told Heskey's critics last week, at the end of the group phase. "We're through to the second round and he's played in all three games." In other words, whatever it is that he does, he does it well enough to have made himself an indispensable part of the team's structure.
The 24-year-old Liverpool forward attracts criticism because his size magnifies his occasional moments of clumsiness and disguises his speed, which is considerable. He can look ponderous, which he is not. The problem is compounded by an unwillingness to explain himself. He is a shy man who, when he speaks, does so in a mumble and with lowered eyes. Given the chance, he skips interviews and press conferences altogether.
He did talk, briefly, on Sunday night. "Everyone looks at goals, so it was nice to get that one," he said when asked about his success against Denmark. There was also a question about the importance of having Eriksson's support. "It's always nice to have the backing of the players and the manager," he said. And that was that.
His reluctance to create a rapport with the media meant that his place in the World Cup line-up was being questioned even before the tournament began. In the first warm-up match, against South Korea in Seogwipo, he started the move that led to Michael Owen's goal. During his 48 minutes on the pitch against Cameroon in Kobe he produced two passes into space behind the defence, one apiece for Owen and Darius Vassell, that would have done credit to a great midfield player.
But many were dissatisfied with his performances and after the Cameroon game their doubts were expressed to Eriksson. "I'm not concerned about Heskey at all," the coach said. "I believe in him."
In the opening match against Sweden his fine pass down the line to Ashley Cole won the corner from which Sol Campbell scored England's only goal. Eriksson was keen to re-emphasise his support after the victory over Argentina, in which Heskey started the move from which Owen hit the post in the first half. "I was very happy with him," the coach said the following day.
After the Nigeria game, a slumberous affair in which a saved shot and a wicked low cross were all he managed, Heskey's presence was questioned again. "He got a lot of criticism after the Sweden game," McClaren said the next day, "but he's gone up front, made a perfect partnership with Michael Owen and caused people all sorts of problems."
Against Denmark Heskey brushed away the attentions of Rene Henriksen and unleashed a shot that Thomas Sorensen smothered. "With a slightly better finish," his fellow squad member Gareth Southgate said after yesterday's training session, "he'd have had a goal that would have made everyone around the world look up and say, 'Goodness me, I don't want to play against this fellow.'"
Southgate has played against Heskey many times in the Premiership. "Emile is the sort of player defenders find particularly hard to deal with," he said. "Against Denmark their centre halves weren't able to cope with his physical presence. That gives other players in the team the space to score goals."
Against Argentina, Southgate pointed out, Heskey's ability to fulfil Eriksson's demand that the team defend from the front was a vital factor. "In the first half he came back a number of times and won the ball in and around where Veron was playing. We're hitting teams on the break, which means you've got to have a front player who's willing to come back and work his socks off. He'll do it."
Heskey has also refused to complain when asked to play out of position on the left of midfield. "Centre-forwards are normally selfish bastards," Southgate continued. "It would be easy for him to go out on the left and sulk but I've never heard a murmur out of him."
His seeming meekness is another vulnerable area, although not in the eyes of opposing centre-backs. "He's a very unassuming lad, a nice fellow," Southgate said.
The temperament is apparently inherited from his mother, although the love of football came directly from his father, who named another of his sons Rivelino, after the great Brazilian left-sided midfielder who will be in the Shizuoka stadium on Friday night.
All Heskey's club coaches, from Brian Little at Leicester to Gérard Houllier, who paid £11m to take him to Liverpool two years ago, have recognised that his morale has to be carefully nurtured if he is to give his best. "All players need confidence," Tord Grip said yesterday, refusing to admit that he is a special case. "Emile has done a great job for us."
"I'd hope that his goal the other night would give him the lift he wants - if that's what he needs," Southgate said. "But when we've played against some of the best nations in the world, Emile has caused them problems. Certainly nobody here lacks confidence in him."
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