Late show saves England's blushes
Late show saves England's blushes
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Thursday, 15, Jun 2006 10:53
Two late second-half goal from Liverpool duo Peter Crouch and Steven Gerrard gave England a 2-0 win against Trinidad and Tobago, as the Three Lions qualified for the second round despite an overall performance that was far from convincing.
Crouch finally broke the deadlock in the 83rd minute after being frustrated by the resolute defence of the islanders with an atypically powerful header from a deep David Beckham cross.
Gerrard added the second with a majestic left-foot strike from outside the box that flew into Shaka Hislop's right hand corner, but in truth it was a crushingly disappointing match that again failed to live up to expectation despite the introduction of Wayne Rooney.
After justly receiving criticism for a lacklustre display in group B's opener against Paraguay at the weekend, England looked set to deliver a vastly improved performance against Trinidad and Tobago, who surprisingly held Sweden to a 0-0 draw on Saturday.
But despite starting well with some confident passing England failed to settle into any rhythm, with Trinidad and Tobago's deep defensive line effectively negating the pace of striker Michael Owen, who was again hauled off in the second-half after another display suggesting he is far from match-fit.
The first clear chance of the game had fallen to Owen in the sixth minute, but he failed to react to a spilled Frank Lampard shot.
As the minutes dragged on England continued to toil, but it was the World Cup debutants who created the next opportunity on goal when Coventry City striker Stern John missed from two yards after goalkeeper Paul Robinson had not come close to cutting out a Dwight Yorke free-kick.
A great ball from Gerrard set Beckham free as half-time approached, with the England captain's accurate cross setting up an unmarked Crouch, but the giant striker attempted a spectacular scissor kick despite having acres of space and all the time in the world, the result being a suitably extravagant miss.
With England restricted to shooting from range and pinning their hopes on Beckham's delivery the aptly name Soca Warriors grew in confidence, and on the stroke of the interval Robinson was again lucky after completely missing a routine cross, the keeper's blushes only saved when the impressive John Terry athletically cleared John's goal-bound header off the line.
England's players trudged off the field dejectedly, with the crowd in no doubt who they wanted to see introduced. "Rooney, Rooney, Rooney" was the continued chant and in the 58th minute they got their wish when the forward finally made his World Cup bow ahead of schedule after being cleared to play by medical experts this morning.
Eriksson's decision to throw Rooney into the mix in place of Owen may have been in response to his strikers' failings, with the Newcastle hitman practically anonymous and Crouch missing a series of chances with inexplicably flamboyant attempts.
Coming on with Rooney was Tottenham Hotspur winger Aaron Lennon, with Jamie Carragher going off and England switching to an attacking 3-5-2 formation.
As the realisation that an embarrassing draw could be on the cards dawned on them, England began to pick up a degree of fluency in their passing, with Stewart Downing's introduction in place of Joe Cole giving the team genuine width.
But the Three Lions were struggling to live up to their reputation and the usually reliable Lampard was particularly guilty after missing a succession of chances you would expect him to bury for club Chelsea.
As the clock ticked down Trinidad and Tobago coach Lee Beenhakker decided to go for the win himself, sending on frontman Cornell Glen.
Glen's pace on the counter-attack threatened disaster for England on a couple of occasions, but thanks to the prescience of Terry, arguably the only England player to come out of both group B games so far with credit, the score remained at 0-0.
That was until the 83rd minute, when the breakthrough finally came and England scored their first second-half World Cup goal in 16 years. A deep diagonal ball of high quality from Beckham met the head of Crouch in the six-yard area, who for once had got the better of centre back Brent Sancho and powered a header past Hislop.
Then in the 90th minute Gerrard made the game safe with a sublimely taken goal, finally replicating his shooting prowess for his club on the international stage with a powerful left-foot strike from outside the area.
John had a goal rightly ruled offside in the 92nd minute, but by then it was all too late, England had won 2-0 and will definitely progress to the last 16, where they will face either Germany or Ecuador whatever the result against Sweden next Tueday.
As the players applauded the fans at the end of the game the crowd optimistically sang that football was coming home, but on this evening's evidence it most definitely is not, with or without Rooney.