England 3-1 Egypt
Peter Crouch improve his impressive international record to 20 goals in 37 appearances
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By Darren Plant. |  |
Wednesday, 03, Mar 2010 11:55
By Sam Ross.
England came from a goal behind to see off African Cup of Nation winners Egypt 3-1 in an international friendly at Wembley.
Mohamed Zidan put the away side ahead in the first half but England produced a second half comeback thanks to a brace from Peter Crouch and a Shaun Wright-Phillips strike.
England had their first real chance of the game in fifth minute when Frank Lampard found himself unmarked in front of goal after a good run from Theo Walcott.
The Arsenal forward - playing on the right wing - entered the right hand side of the penalty area and squeezed a pass through two defenders to Lampard.
But the Chelsea midfielder could only fire his shot straight at Egypt goalkeeper Essam El-Hadari when he should have done better.
Everton left back Leighton Baines was making his first appearance for England and in the ninth minute gave away a cheap corner that could have proved costly.
From the resulting out swinging corner Egypt's Wael Gomaa tamely volleyed goalwards after his marker - John Terry - slipped, but Jermain Defoe was on hand to clear off the line.
West Ham goalkeeper Robert Green seemed happy for Defoe to clear while the rest of the defence just watched on motionless.
Wayne Rooney instigated a turn of magic in the 11th minute when his cleaver touch eluded the sliding tackle of Hossam Ghaly before smartly playing in Defoe who was denied by a last-ditch tackle from Ahmed El-Muhammady.
Egypt were beginning to find their feet in the game and it was clear from their play they thought they could take advantage of a less than convincing looking England side.
Borussia Dortmund striker Mohamed Zidan looked threatening after linking up well with the midfield and when his driven effort from just outside the area went wide in the 15th minute there was some worried faces among the English defence.
Midway through the first half Egypt took a shock lead when in the 23rd minute Zidan finished well after sloppy defending from England.
West Ham defender Matthew Upson slipped and could only watch on as Sayed Moewad long cross was beautifully controlled and side-footed passed Green in similar style to Zidan's more illustrious French namesake.
As the half hour mark loomed Wayne Rooney exchanged a neat one two with stand-in captain Steven Gerrard but was unable to fully connect the Liverpool captain's lifted response - heading harmlessly over.
Ten minutes before half time Lampard had another great opportunity to score when the ball bounced his way after a Barry header from a corner but his volley bounced high over the crossbar.
One of the best chances of the half came in the 40th minute when Gerrard threaded a pass through two defenders to the on running Defoe. But the Tottenham forward's fiercely driven effort was palmed away by El-Hadari.
The second half saw the introduction of Michael Carrick and Peter Crouch for Lampard and Defoe and the change seemed to have made an impact as England enjoyed an impressive 15-minute spell.
Rooney was the first to re-heat the gloves of El-Hadari when in the 50th minute his neat turn and curled effort towards the far corner was comfortably caught by the keeper.
And the equaliser finally came in the 56th minute from Peter Crouch after a great move by England. Substitute Carrick passed to Gerrard whose quick pass played in Gareth Barry as he entered the right hand side of the box. The Manchester City midfielder then played the ball first time to Crouch who swept home from six yards.
Fabio Capello made another important substitution when he replaced Theo Walcott for Shaun Wright-Phillips in a like-for-like role in the 60th minute.
England were now in the ascendancy with substitute Crouch being a telling outlet for the England midfield and the lanky striker was involved again when his clever flick from a Carrick pass found Gerrard but the Liverpool captain could only fired wide of the goal in the 62nd minute.
Crouch and Gerrard were involved in another positive England move minutes later when Gerrard spread the play wide to Wright-Phillips.
The Manchester City winger drifted down the line before clipping the ball into the area where Crouch ambitiously tried an acrobatic scissor kick which he failed to fully connect with.
The ball fell to Gerrard who tried to break through the defence but was unable to before the ball bounced up for Rooney to outdo Crouch's earlier attempt but unfortunately his over head kick flashed wide.
Barry threaded a great through ball to Rooney in the 65th minute but the in form Manchester United forward was unable to convert when left one-on-one with El-Hadari who did well to narrow the angle down.
Egypt produced a rare second half attack in the 73rd minute when Amir Zaki outpaced former England captain and crowd-taunted John Terry but fortunately his flashed cross across eluded everyone.
England took a deserved lead in the 75th minute from Wright-Phillips after impact substitute James Milner had initially been denied.
Leighton Baines' cross deflected to Milner whose left footed swing shot was parried by El-Hadari straight back into the danger area to Wright-Phillips whose volleyed effort slipped through the fingers of the keeper after taking a slight deflection.
The game was put to bed ten minutes from time when in the 79th minute Wright Phillips drove to the by-line after a neat one two with right back Wes Brown. The City winger then slid the ball forward for Crouch to prod home - from an offside position - and net his 20th goal in 37 international and round off a decent second half performance from England.