England cruise to Belarus victory
England signed off from their impressive World Cup qualification campaign with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Belarus.
Two goals from Peter Crouch either side of a long range strike from Shaun Wright Phillips saw Fabio Capello’s men ease home against a Belarus side lacking a cutting edge on goal.
It didn’t take long for England to get into their stride. Wright Phillips struck a low shot from 20 yards narrowly past the goalkeeper’s right hand post.
However, it was Peter Crouch who made the lasting impression of the evening in front of the onwatching under pressure Emile Heskey. A fantastic through ball from Gareth Barry in the 4th minute saw Gabriel Agbonlahor’s outpace the defender before crossing for Crouch to slide the ball into the goal.
Agbonlahor’s raw pace was causing problems for the Belarus defence and a fine counter attack down the right was well kept out by the goalkeeper at his near post.
Nevertheless, the match evened out into a fairly dull spectacle after the frantic start and neither goalkeeper was hugely troubled as the half time whistle approached.
Frank Lampard nearly got back on the goal trail three minutes into the second half with a close range free kick that was well kept out.
For all of England’s pace on the pitch, it was the introduction of 34-year-old David Beckham in the 57th minute that sparked the team and crowd into life.
Just two minutes after the former captain was introduced, a cleverly worked short corner saw Wright Phillips beat his man before firing low past the despairing goalkeeper for a comfortable 2-0 lead.
Even so, Belarus fired a warning to any complacent England defenders with a well worked move in the 63rd minute that brought a fine one handed save out of the much criticised Ben Foster.
Carlton Cole was introduced for Agbonlahor midway through the second half and he was involved in the third England goal. His low shot was spilled by the goalkeeper into Crouch’s path for the striker’s 16th goal in 17 starts for England. It will be interesting to see if Capello can ignore that prolific record!
Final substitute James Milner almost added a fourth minutes from the end after some nice close control set him up for a low shot that hit the inside of the post and rebounded to safety. Just a minute later, a clearly rattled Belarus defence went to sleep and allowed Beckham a chance to grab his first goal at Wembley. However, his low shot clipped the outside of the post.
The final whistle went to appreciative cheers from the England supporters who recognise just how far the team has progressed since the final qualification match at Wembley for Euro 2008. It’s now down to Capello to choose his ideal 23 for the ever approaching World Cup next summer.
