England 6 Andorra 0
Rooney 4, Lampard 29, Rooney 39, Defoe 73 and 76, Crouch 81
One more win and England will qualify.
Next game is Croatia on Wednesday, September 9.
Fabio Capello’s England ain’t the most technical side out there but they have shape, discipline and determination. And they need a bit more discipline.
Fabio said, “We play with more confidence every game.”
Quite. Confidence can build up, or it can collapse, or it can be OK but quite fragile. When you win, you gain belief. You need results, a good sequence. If there’s one thing footballers believe, it’s results. And Capello is a winner, a guy who is in the results business.
He reminds me of George Graham. With George it was : If we win, I never have to say sorry.
Popular cockney entertainer Daivid Beckham said, “Wayne’s always a freat to any side.”
Despite the tube strike, Engerland were watched by a crowd of over 57,000 and played very well for the first 12 minutes, then played sloppily for 15 minutes. They went off the boil, became lazy and lackadaisical.
Second half, they didn’t have a sloppy spell. I’d guess that Fabio told them to keep up the tempo, keep concentrating, and do their jobs till the final whistle
In effect, Andorra’s part-timers gave England a practice game against a massed defence.
And right back Glen Johnson was the star of the night, providing assists for goals one, three and four, and playing in Theo Walcott to provide a sweet cutback for Lampard to slot the second and make a handsome victory inevitable.
That’s good. In any game against a massed defence, your full backs will have a lot of the ball. If their delivery is bad, you might not win.
Glen Johnson isn’t a great right back defensively. But he’s fast and classy. He’s always had the pace and he’s always had outstanding skills and I’m hoping he can become a World Cup full back.
A shame that sub Ashley Young was so nervous. He can’t cross the ball with his left foot.
Despite watching a walkover against minnows, which was England’s biggest win for 16 years, Capello will have learned some things and confirmed a few others.
This game confirmed that Gerrard isn’t good against a ten-man defence. He’s not really a ball-manipulator or a craftsman with the guile to vary his game against a massed defence.
He’s a gladiator, a power player, who can be decisive in an open game, a battle, where you need to win the ball, be first, score a goal. That’s why Rafa uses Stevie G the way he does : as a goalscorer.
Rafa sussed out what Stevie G was and wasn’t very quickly. Fans and media followed on from Rafa, eventually.
ROONEY has 24 goals in 52 England games – and 10 in 12 for Capello, all this season.
Gary Lineker also scored 10 in the year of 1987.
Lineker made his England debut in a 1-1 draw against Scotland in 1984 when he was 23.
Rooney is 23 now. He made his England debut in a friendly against Australia in 2003 when he was 17.
ENGLAND (4-4-2): Green (West Ham); Johnson (Portsmouth), Terry (Chelsea), Lescott (Everton), A Cole (Chelsea); Walcott (Arsenal), Beckham (LA Galaxy), Lampard (Chelsea), Gerrard (Liverpool); Crouch (Portsmouth), Rooney (Manchester United). Subs: Defoe (Tottenham) for Rooney, h-t; Ashley Young (Aston Villa) for Gerrard, h-t; Bridge (Manchester City) for Ashley Cole, 62.
ANDORRA (5-4-1): Alvarez (Andorra); Ayala (Andorra), A Lima (unattached), I Lima (US Triestina), Sonejee (Santa Coloma), T Garcia (Andorra); Moreno (Gimnastic De Alcazar), Andorra (Santa Coloma), Vieira (Atletico De Monzon), Jimenez (Santa Coloma); Silva (Montijo). Subs: Vales (CD Binefar) for A Lima, 46; Fernandez (Santa Coloma) for Silva, 79; Gomes (Ibiza-Eivissa) for Alvarez, 89.
Referee: Bas Nijhuis (Netherlands).