England 3 Belarus 0
Crouch 4, SWP 60, Crouch 75
England were adequate against tidy opponents who had nothing to play for.
After playing with a brisk tempo for 25 minutes, England slowed down and let Belarus take over, which was barmy.
When we play slowly, we lose concentration and purpose. And 4-4-2 did not help, since it was often more like 4-2-4.With two strikers, two wingers, two holding players, and no Rooney, Frank Lampard was pushed back in a game where he needed to be doing some of the things Rooney does.
Glen Johnson is a ball-watcher but he’s the only right back we have, so we have to work with him. Maybe he can concentrate for six games next summer. I like the lad because he’s an athlete with a touch of class on the ball. He’s skilful, fast and big, and needs a 24-year old Beckham playing in front of him, talking to him. Or the Darren Anderton of the mid-Nineties. You’ve all forgotten how good Anderton was.
Balance is the fourth most important thing in international football. Without balance, you will never achieve objective one (keeping the ball) and objective two (scoring) and objective three (keeping a clean sheet)
David Beckham has the ugliest beard I’ve ever seen on a footballer and half his body is now covered in ghastly tattoos.
ITV pundit Steve Bruce should have given the Nationwide Man of the Match to Gareth Barry or Peter Crouch but , absurdly, named his old mate at Man United.
On that award, Fabio Capello said, “Yes, I was a bit surprised, I just thought it was like Obama getting the Nobel Peace Prize after eight months as President of the United States. He gets the man of the match after 30 minutes here.”
Exactly what I said and what millions of people said. Ridiculous. But we now live in an absurd world. If we took any of it seriously, we would go mad and be on heavy medication for the rest of our lives.
LATER : On Thursday my brother Paddy told me that Steve Bruce said, “I couldn’t give it to Crouch, he turned me down in the summer.”
Yes, Steve Bruce said that on air. How jolly sporting of him ! What a buffoon. How small and spiteful is that? He could not give an England striker the Man of the Match award after he scored twice in a 3-0 victory because he turned down an offer to go to Sunderland and joined Spurs instead.
Was Bruce joking? Was he laughing when he said it?
Arshavin scored in 13 for Russia in Azerbajan but they drew 1-1 despite the award of a dubious penalty by referee Howard Webb
Argentina have qualified !!!They played much better than of late and won 1-0 with a goal by sub Mario Bolatti in the 85th minute.
ENGLAND (4-4-2): Foster (Manchester United); Johnson (Liverpool), Ferdinand (Manchester United), Terry (Chelsea), Bridge (Manchester City); Lennon (Tottenham), Lampard (Chelsea), Barry (Manchester City), Wright-Phillips (Manchester City); Crouch (Tottenham), Agbonlahor (Aston Villa).
Subs used: Beckham (LA Galaxy) Lennon, 58; C Cole (West Ham) Agbonlahor, 66; Milner (Aston Villa) for Bridge, 78.
BELARUS (4-5-1): Zhevnov (FC Moscow); Shitov (BATE Borisov), Verkhovtsov (Naftan Novopolotsk), Sosnovski (BATE Borisov), Yurevich (BATE Borisov); Kalachev (Krylia Sovetov Samara), Kulchi (Rostov), Kutuzov (Bari), Omelyanchuk (Terek Grozny), Bordachov (BATE Borisov); Kornilenko (Zenit St Petersburg).
Subs used: Rodionov (BATE Borisov) for Kutuzov, h-t; Kovel (Saturn Moscow Oblast) for Kornilenko, 77; Kashevski (Illichivets Mariupol) for Biordachov, 84.
Referee: L C Batista (Portugal).
Crowd : a healthy and loyal 76,897.