England cruise past hapless Andorra
Beckham congratulates Johnson on one of his many assists against Andorra
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Wednesday, 10, Jun 2009 10:42
England cruised to a 6-0 victory over minnows Andorra at Wembley to maintain their 100 per cent record in World Cup qualifying.
Wayne Rooney and Jermaine Defoe both grabbed two goals, while Frank Lampard and Peter Crouch were also on the scoresheet for the home side.
Despite fears about transport nearly 58,000 still made it to Wembley to witness a straightforward victory for Fabio Capello's men.
England goalkeeper Robert Green was never challenged to make a save as the visitors stayed on the back foot in an attempt to keep the score down.
England started brightly and almost went ahead after just three minutes. A corner found Theo Walcott and although his strike at goal was parried by the goalkeeper, Rooney headed the rebound onto the crossbar.
But the Manchester United striker only had to wait one more minute to break the deadlock. Glenn Johnson provided a cross from the right, handing Rooney a simple chance to head past Jesus Alvarez at the far post.
Crouch and Gerrard both spurned chances as England continued to press but their movement remained good and after 30 minutes Lampard was able to make it 2-0.
Johnson again pushed forward and he played a neat ball behind the Andorran right-back for Walcott. He squared the ball to Lampard to who stroked it into the net.
It was 3-0 just before the break, Johnson supplied another pin-point cross as Rooney ran towards the near post before volleying home in nonchalant style.
At the start of the second half England again wasted chances to add to their lead. Defoe headed wide after substitute Ashley Young had crossed from the left.
Soon after that Walcott pounced on another parry from Alvarez only to send his shot straight at Crouch with the goal gaping in front of him.
Those mistakes were soon forgotten when England made it 4-0. Once more Johnson was the provider, crossing for Defoe to make amends for his earlier miss with a well taken header.
Moments later the Tottenham Hotspur striker grabbed his second and England's fifth. David Beckham's free-kick was spilled by the hapless Alvarez and Defoe was on hand to side-foot the ball into the net.
The rout was completed with ten minutes remaining. Defoe raced into the box and tried to complete his hat-trick but miss-hit his shot. Luckily it fell straight to Crouch who bundled the ball in from close range.
Elsewhere in England's group, Ukraine kept the pressure up with a 2-1 win over Kazakhstan but both they and Croatia still trail England by ten points following England's win over Andorra.