Israel claim draw against tame England
Steven Gerrard and co could not claim the vital three points
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Saturday, 24, Mar 2007 09:42
England claimed a point in Israel after another uninspired 90 minutes of international football produced a 0-0 draw in their Euro 2008 qualifier.
Steve McClaren's men struggled to break down some resolute defending by the home side and were forced into using long ball tactics for much of the game.
Israel threatened only on occasion as they played largely on the counterattack and looked to expose England's makeshift full-backs.
Frank Lampard had England's best chance of the first half after a neat interchange of passes involving Steven Gerrard released the Chelsea man in the box.
However, he could not take the ball in stride and Israel goalkeeper Dudu Aouate came out quickly to smother the ball.
Possession was relatively equal in the opening stages and Israel created some half-chances when England failed to deal adequately with some early crosses, but the Israeli strikers did not test Paul Robinson.
England's grip on the game grew as time went on and they created their two best chances in the space of a couple of minutes in the second half.
The first chance fell to Lampard after Aaron Lennon had cut in and crossed, but the Chelsea midfielder's glancing header flashed wide of the far post.
Steven Gerrard then created another headed opportunity, this time for Andy Johnson. He rose between two defenders but failed to hit the target from ten yards out.
Jamie Carragher hit the top of the crossbar following a corner but Aouate seemed to have his looping header covered already.
Jermain Defoe came on for the final 15 minutes in place of Johnson and was foiled by Aouate who blocked his goal-bound shot from six yards out.
The goal-less draw means that England have only scored once in their last five games and the draw moves them onto eight points in group E ahead of Wednesday's qualifier against Andorra.