Cole saves England's blushes against Czech Republic
Cole's late goal helped England salvage something from the match
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Wednesday, 20, Aug 2008 10:48
Joe Cole saved England embarrassment at Wembley with a late strike that earned the home side a 2-2 draw against Czech Republic.
It was a lacklustre display from Fabio Capello's team that earned a chorus of boos as the players left the field.
Both of England's goals came from set pieces and they rarely looked like breaking down the Czech defence from open play.
The visitors, by contrast, looked organised and held their shape much better than England, allowing them to attack fluidly while England resorted to long balls from the defence up to the strikers.
Former Portsmouth and Liverpool striker Milan Barros put the Czechs ahead after 20 minutes. He managed to turn Ashley Cole inside the box and his shot got a slight deflection off the Chelsea man that helped it past David James.
England's response was somewhat disjointed and although they managed to get some shots on Petr Cech's goal the distance from which they were struck never troubled the giant keeper.
As half-time approached England earned themselves a lifeline. David Beckham's corner found Wes Brown in the centre of the goal and he headed home his first international goal to put Capello's men level at 1-1 at the break.
Parity did not last long and as England flustered about getting Jonathan Woodgate on as a substitute Marek Jankulovski cured home a free-kick to put the Czechs 2-1 ahead.
James was unsighted by three Czech players in the wall who peeled away as Jankulovski's shot reached them allowing it to nestle in the top corner of England's goal.
The Portsmouth keeper almost gave Czech Republic the chance to extend their lead midway through the second period when he came racing out of his penalty box to meet Vaclav Sverkos and was fortunate to see the striker find the side-netting.
A series of second-half substitutions failed to help England's cause, though how Beckham was allowed to operate on the right-hand side without offering much impetus for so long was a mystery. He was eventually replaced by David Bentley for the final ten minutes of the match.
Finally, with time running out substitute Joe Cole was able bundle the ball into the Czech goal from close-range. Cech looked to have saved an initial goal-bound effort on the goal line but Cole was on hand to tuck away the rebound.
However, despite snatching the draw a vast improvement will be needed when England begin their World Cup qualifying campaign with back-to-back matches against Andorra and Croatia on September 6th and 10th.