England v Slovakia (From The Northern Echo)

England v Slovakia

7:35pm Monday 30th March 2009

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Despite being outclassed by Spain in a recent friendly, England didn’t disgrace themselves, and looked to continue their revival against Slovakia at Wembley. The game served as a warm-up ahead of the forthcoming World Cup qualifier at home to Ukraine. Slovakia are an improving side, winning 3 of their opening 4 World Cup qualifiers, whilst England had won all 4 qualifiers, making this battle an interesting one. More than anything, England aimed to get through the game without picking up any injuries, as well as putting in a solid performance ahead the Ukraine game.

Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon was handed his first start under Fabio Capello, while a back injury meant Rio Ferdinand was left out, Matthew Upson taking his place in the centre of defence. David James was preferred to Ben Foster in goal. England welcomed back Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard after missing the Spain match, with Gerrard starting on the left of midfield, not his usual centre midfield position, where he plays for Liverpool. Slovakia named Liverpool centre back Martin Skrtel in their starting line up, as well as West Brom’s reserve full back Marek Cech, who started at left back.

The game was the first for England in their new kit, which seemed to bring them some good luck, as they got off to a great start, taking the lead after just 7 minutes. Rooney played in Gerrard down the left. Gerrard got the by line before squaring a cross which Emile Heskey turned in at the near post. Heskey should have had his second not long after, heading over a Rooney cross from only 5 yards. England continued to apply pressure, with Lennon looking particularly dangerous on the right, posing a massive problem to the Slovak defence. It was Lennon who created the next opportunity, using was pace to leave Cech for dead, then whipping in a low cross which was only half cleared to Lampard on the edge of the area. Lampard’s strike was saved, albeit unconvincingly by Slovakian keeper Senecky. Slovakia did show glimpses of potential, Karhan forcing a fine save from David James after a ferocious shot from the edge of the box. A sloppy pass from Ashley Cole then allowed Vittek to have a pop at goal, only to be denied by James. Quickfire headers from Lennon then Gerrard forced Senecky into a double save, before Gerrard had a low shot easily saved. At half time, Heskey’s early strike was enough to give England the lead.

England made 3 changes at half time, the most significant of which was David Beckham’s introduction. This was Beckham’s 109th appearance for England, a record for any England outfield player. Slovakia looked to get on terms quickly after the break, and came close when a quick counter attack ended with Jendrisek firing into the sidenetting. England did have the ball in the net, Beckham’s free kick found the head of Peter Crouch, whose effort seemed to be heading in, but John Terry decided to poke the ball home to make sure. The only problem was that he was in an offside position, and therefore the goal was ruled out. Terry nearly made amends not long after, firing just wide from the edge of the area after Beckham’s cross wasn’t fully cleared. With 20 minutes to play, England did finally secure the game. A Gareth Barry through ball had too much pace on for Rooney, but Beckham did manage to gather it up. Beckham then floated an inch perfect cross onto the head of Wayne Rooney, who guided the ball past Senecky to double England’s lead. Things got better for England with just 7 minutes to play. Good build up work led to Lampard bursting into the penalty area and casually rolling the ball home for England’s third. Lampard then turned provider, threading a pass to Rooney who dinked the ball over the keeper for his second of the match, and wrapping up a comprehensive 4-0 victory for England.

Much tougher opponents lie in wait for England over the next year or so. Slovakia barely threatened the home sides defence, and were actually quite disappointing. England though, were convincing. The performance and the result will please Capello and provide a confidence boost. One negative point was that Heskey, Crouch and Carlton Cole all went of injured, leaving England with a shortage of strikers for the Ukraine match. But England continued to show great progress as they aim to qualify for next year’s World Cup. For now, that is the main aim. Should they advance to the finals in South Africa next year, and there is no reason why they can’t, then just maybe all the decades of suffering for England fans and players could come to an end.

By Chris Sykes

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