England 3 Peru 0
Sturridge 32, Cahill 65, Jagielka 70
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Winning is a good habit.
It\’s a better habit than playing well.
We never play well until we score, so this was a typical England game in that respect.
We didn\’t play well for the first half hour and then Glen Johnson took a quick throw into the box and Daniel Sturridge just put his body between the ball and the nearest defender and allowed the ball to run outside the box and then lashed a wicked shot into the far side of the goal for 1-0.
After a couple of replays, I realised that the shot was his first touch.
It was a nasty dipper that gave the keeper no chance. Did I mention that it was wicked? Probably the most wicked shot I\’ve ever seen Sturridge strike. And he\’s hit a few.
ITV pundit Glenn Hoddle said, “Sturridge getting his goal proves to me that he doesn\’t have to play at his very best to score.That\’s the sort of player we need in the World Cup.â€
Hoddle said that at half-time and he wasn\’t being harsh.
Rooney hasn\’t played for five weeks, so he lacks sharpness. Welbeck is just a hungry ball-chaser.
The subs did OK for England.
Jack Wilshere looked useful for 25 minutes, producing a couple of nice touches after he replaced Gerrard.
Raheem Sterling, replacing Rooney, might be Hodgson\’s secret weapon.
Raheem is a young lion who is more dangerous in the hole than on the wing.
Adam Lallana twinkled along, a brainy improviser who can invent the game from moment to moment and you need a couple of guys like that. Lallana is subtle, flicky, two-footed, smart off the ball.
He\’s a continental type of player and not like any forward I\’ve ever seen play for England. For a while I thought Lallana was a bit like Beardlsley. But he\’s not.
Lallana sometimes needs a diagonal runner and Sterling might be that man.
Ross Barkley is a big unit who can play short passes at sweet angles.
When Welbeck won a ball from a defender and nicked it to Barkley, he found Sterling on his left but the kid tried to dink the ball over to Welbeck & that didn\’t come off.
Joe Hart kept his concentration high and made three saves in the first half. He knows he was playing against rookies. Peru don\’t have a Cavani or a Suarez.
Roy Hodgson has been around long enough to know they\’re in a results business. They\’re pragmatists who realise we\’re not good enough to play any World Cup team off the park. And most England supporters all know that.
But if we don\’t concede goals, we can score one… or maybe two.
The other goals came from Leighton Baines corners.
Gary Cahill is the best English defender by far and his goal was a very well-timed power header. His movement is exceptionally good on that kind of ball and Cahill does that very well for Chelsea.
The keeper muffed another Baines corner five minutes later, colliding with his own defender and spilling the ball to Phil Jagielka, who thumped it in for 3-0.
Jagielka did OK for a guy who has been out for 10 weeks with a hamstring and only played in Everton\’s last two games. He needs to stay fit. If Jags is out, we will ship goals, for sure.
Overall, our squad has more promising options than Fabio Capello had in South Africa. but the options are young,unproven players.
So England are in transition and might wobble against Ecuador in Miami.
If you look closely at our starting eleven, only four played in the Champions League last season.
ENGLAND (4-2-3-1): Hart; Johnson, Cahill, Jagielka, Baines; Gerrard, Henderson; Welbeck, Rooney, Lallana; Sturridge. Subs: Wilshere/Gerrard 64, Sterling/Rooney 66, Smalling/Jagielka 73, Milner/Lallana 73, Stones/Baines 75, Barkley/Sturridge 82
PERU (5-4-1): Fernandez; Advincula, Callens, Ramos, Rodriguez, Yotun; Deza, Ballon, Cruzado, Carrillo; Ramirez Subs: Hurtado/Ramirez 59, Ruidaz/Deza 66 Riojas/Ramos 68, Velarde/Advincula 78, Flores/Carrillo 86
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