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Masters champion Danny Willett bounced back from his Players Championship disappointment to move in to a two-stroke lead after the opening round of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open. Irish Open leaders Leaderboard updates from the K Club Willett, who missed the cut at TPC Sawgrass last week in his first start since last months Augusta victory, fired a birdie-filled 65 to set the pace at the K Club, where tournament host Rory McIlroy also made a strong start to the week.After opening with back-to-back pars, Willett rolled in a birdie-two after a stunning tee shot at the third and McIlroy posted his first gain from six feet at the par-four next. McIlroy started with a five-under-par round at the Irish Open The world No 3 picked up another shot at the sixth to get in to the group one adrift of morning pace-setters Ross Fisher and Martin Kaymer, with Willett joining those on two under by stiffing his approach to the seventh pin and converting a kick-in birdie.McIlroy saw a 15-footer at the eighth sneak past the right edge but birdied the next to reach the turn in 32, as Willett coaxed home a 10-footer to also move within one of Callum Shinkwin at the top of the leaderboard.A two-putt gain from just off the 10th green by McIlroy was matched by Willett from close range, before the Masters champion made it a hat-trick of birdies with a winding putt at the next to get to five under. McIlroy has missed the cut in his last three appearances in this event Willett nudged in from close range at the 13th to claim the outright advantage and moved three clear by draining a long-range gain at the next, as McIlroy three-putted the 14th and Shinkwin carded a first dropped shot of the day at his penultimate hole.As McIlroy recovered from an errant drive at 17 to save par, Willett missed the green with his approach from near the grandstand and two-putted from the fringe for a first blemish of the day.A six-foot birdie at the last saw McIlroy close a five-under 67 and briefly move within one of the lead, only for Willett, playing in the following group, to find the par-five green in two and two-putt from 10 feet. Shinkwin finished with a four-under 68, with Jaco Van Zyl moving in to the tie for second after posting four birdies along the back nine.Fisher and two-time major champion Kaymer defied tough conditions to set the clubhouse target earlier in the day, both posting opening-round 69s in persistent rain. Martin Kaymer carded two birdies and an eagle after the turn Former tournament winner Shane Lowry bogeyed his final hole to close a one-under 71 as Andy Sullivan, who became a father for the second time on Wednesday, kicked off his week with a three-over 75. I hit the ball really well today, a lot of good iron shots, especially on my back nine, Lowry said. I feel like I probably should be at least two or three better. They dont give out trophies on Thursday so Im in the tournament and looking forward to the next few days.Watch the Irish Open throughout the week live on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf. Live second round coverage begins on Friday from 9.30am. 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Levante, which had lost five straight including a Copa del Rey game last weekend, fell behind at its Ciutat de Valencia stadium when Ionut Sapanura opened the scoring for Elche in the 26th minute.It shouldnt come as a disappointment anymore for England supporters. They are used to this. Losing. It isnt underachieving when the team isnt good enough. This is as good as it gets. Whenever Englands Brazilian journey comes to an end (they havent been eliminated, yet) the diehard support and those responsible for overseeing English football will hold on to the positive moments. Flashes of ability and promise are what constitute hope. "They werent that bad" is excused as progress. The play of the likes of Sturridge and Sterling, and the futures of Barkley and Shaw will be used as evidence brighter days ahead. Yawn. Weve heard this before. Weve done this song and dance. The days of a semi-final shoot-out loss in Italia 90 are long gone. Lets not go back to 1966. The failures have piled on, one less painful than the next. Success would be a surprise. Losses to more intelligent and superior football nations are the expectation. The English should be immune from the feeling of devastation or outrage. From a Golden Generation not good enough, to the likes of Rooney, Lampard and Gerrard who have failed to capture the imagination. Its a vicious cycle of mediocrity. A 2-1 loss to Uruguay is just the latest chapter. England was poor. Nothing new. The how it happened is what drives home the obvious. Too weak in too many areas and lacking true top talent to break down their competition. Out-managed. Out-witted. Out-classed. Uruguay only completed a pathetic 64 per cent of passes. The South Americans struggled in build up and were content to sit back. It was an astute page out of Italys book from Englands opening match; sit-back and force England to break you down. Dont get beat for speed. And counter-attack. Thats what Uruguay did, and credit for executing. They got stuck in and remained organized. Forget basic statistics telling you England dominated possession with Uruguay on the back-foot. It was calculated. It worked to perfection. A basic approach against a basic team. Simple. The game winning goal incredibly came directly from the Uruguayan goalkeeper Fernando Muslera. A ball put on the ground and a long ball played out. Simple to defend, right? Apparently not. Edinson Cavani dropped deep all match to expose long-in-the-tooth Steven Gerrard sitting on top of the England backline. For what the England captain has in experience, he lacks in legs because of the kilometers accumulated. Cavanis aerial challenge of Gerrard forced a wayward header backwards from the England midfielder. Luis Suarez, as proper poachers do, tucked in behind the backline looking for an advantage. He gambled and he won, as Gary Cahill got caught. Suarez was clinical in finish and again showed his special talent. A game breaker and match winner, something England doesnt have. Likewise on Suarez opener, he exposed Englands backline. The Uruguayan number nine did well to create the needed space on the far post behind Phil Jagielka. The ball played to Suarez by Cavani was all-world. But it was two Uruguayan players on six England defenders. Nobody put pressure on the ball. And to leave Suarez lurking on the far post wasnt good enough. Not to mention is was a missed tackle by Gerrard in the midfield, leading to the attack. Two England centre-backs and two mistakes leading to goals conceded. Cahill and Jagielka are experienced at the position, at least at the club level. They are the best in the country at the position and they were exposed. The best England has at an all-important position and not good enough. Its the same story at the other end of the field. Not good enough. Wayne Rooney and Daniel Sturridge are more than fine players. They are very good. But they are not at the same levels of other top forwards in this tournament, let alone not the top forwards on their own club teams. Therein is the difference. The likes of Rooney and Sturridge require real substance around them to be at their best, and thats fine. They are better the complimentary piece rather than the focus at this level. p; When played appropriately, they can shine.dddddddddddd In this England team, their play often times is representative of the whole. These are the best England has and they are not good enough. The midfield, a make-shift, comprised of decent parts with no direction on how its supposed to work. Jordan Henderson had a fine season on a good attacking Liverpool team. Yet something suggests he has the makings of becoming the next Sinclair, Wright-Phillips, Mills, or Parker – take your pick of the long list of players youll ask, "Did he really play for England?" Is he really the best England really has? The rest of the midfield is all over the place. The left-side exposed defensively and the movement in attack not creative or consistent. Passing the ball around without purpose wont break down a back line. Its no surprise this area of the field is stagnant and lacks influence. And the manager, oh the manager. Roy Hodgson saw fit to keep Englands double-pivot of Gerrard and Henderson on the field in a game begging for attacking players to breakdown the Uruguayan defensive wall. Comically, two holding players were preferable to keeping on Sterling or Welbeck, or even throwing on a Rickie Lambert until after England went down. The options at Hodgson arent flattering. But neither were the tactics. The very least Hodgson could have done was shuffle the deck. Bring off a defensive midfielder or ineffective wing-back in preference of another attacking player. Change the shape. Instead, the end result of a cautious approach was not good enough. Some will suggest Ashley Cole and Jermain Defoe should have been in the England set-up. Leighton Baines has struggled and another forward option off the bench could have proved decisive. Arguments can be made but how much of a difference they would have made most likely would have been negligible. It made more sense to include Michael Carrick in the squad as a holding midfielder able to provide distribution. But then again, this is a country deeming Paul Scholes not a proper fit to be an England regular over the course of his career. The best England had, but not good enough? Theres a pattern here. Selection issues are nothing new. But no matter who dons the England kit, are they ever good enough? There have been phenomenal performances over the course of the first week of the World Cup, both by individuals and team. Honest assessment would tell the standard of football played by the true top football nations is a step beyond England. Its all very disturbing considering important players for the likes of Chile and Colombia (etc…) are buried in the League Championship, or in some cases not deemed good enough for even that. This should trouble the English to the core. But it wont. Overrating their own talent has become a past-time and feeds the beast. Criticism and finding scapegoats has become a past time. In reality, these are the best players they have. And they are not good enough. The Premier League is the most entertaining league in the world and the most popular. It is not the best. Englands best players are not even the top talent in their own domestic league. Taking a look in the mirror doesnt always cast a pretty reflection. But the look in the mirror is necessary. Acceptance is needed. This was a day England will never have a better context to beat a Uruguay team as such on a stage made for a statement performance. The weather was an ideal 14 degrees Celsius for the hardened English. The opponent was missing two of their preferred back-four. The star player was not 100 per cent. And Uruguays confidence was shaky coming off a shock 3-1 loss. England didnt let it slip away. They were incapable of seizing the moment. It is possible England can still advance from the group stage, even though a team losing their first two games at a World Cup has never done so. Italy must beat Costa Rica then Uruguay, and England will need a comprehensive victory over the Ticos to have superior goal differential. But really, would that constitute success? Squeaking by would be as good as it gets for a team not good enough. ' ' '