LATE TURNAROUND FOR ENGLAND

 

 

Well the last time England faced Egypt was at the 1990 World Cup, in a Group F encounter at the Sant Ella stadium. The first half was relatively uneventful other than a yellow card for one of the Egyptians and ultimately, wouldn't have been what Bobby Robson had in mind. However the Three Lions still got in front thanks to a goal from Mark Wright of all people and after that the Egyptians weren't able to turn the game around. That was enough to get us into the knockout stages of that competition though it was a very messy performance in the knockout stages. After that though, well the rest is pretty much history - forget '66 even that semi-final benchmark has yet to be matched.

Fabio Capello is the latest to try and he's doing a generally awesome job so far...and then ran into a slight problem. Still, as he has the first to remind everyone, he still had a football team to manage and for the first time in the Capello era, they were up against African opposition. Egypt haven't qualified for the World Cup since 1990 but no one can argue with their African Cup of Nations record, even if I hadn't heard of any of the starting XI that came to Wembley. As for England well with injuries and off pitch issues it was Green in goal, Terry and Upson centre back, Everton's Leighton Baines making his debut at left back. Walcott right mid, Lampard and Barry centre mid, Gerrard left mid and captain. Rooney and Defoe up front.

Well as expected it wasn't long before England were battering the Egyptian goal. What was more surprising was the fact that none of our guys, despite easy seeming chances, could put the ball in the net as a largely experimental lineup failed to gel. Then Mohamed Zidan picked up a 23rd minute lob from the halfway line and suddenly the Three Lions were trailing. While the visitors never looked like going two up, the remainder of the half certainly proved to be messy for England with more chances going astray. The half time whistle blew and it wasn't just our former captain the fans were unhappy with. Somehow we were staring humiliation in the face.

Well at half time Fabio overhauled the side and that seemed to solve all our problems. In the 55th minute Gerrard found Barry who found one of the fresh men, Crouch and the lanky assasin stuffed it in the net. More chances came and so did more subs, one of which was Milner who's initial 75th minute shot the Egyptian goalie couldn't keep out and the ball fell to another late sub Wright-Philipps who game England the lead. Finally in the 80th minute a third sub Carrick found Wright-Philips who fed Crouch who was easilly able to grab his second and now it was the Egyptians who were raising the white flag. Job done but done very messilly. Now comes the final run in to South Africa and Fabio has plenty to think sbout.

Elsewhere, Scotland faced the Czech Republic at Hampden Park. The Tartan Army had a new gaffer in Craig Levein and in the first half, the defence did him a fair degree of credit, keeping a clean sheet untill hallf time at least. In terms of chances, the Czechs continued to be the better team on the night, but it was Scotland that opened the scoring through Scott Brown and though the Czechs were certainly ambitious in their attempts to get an equaliser, the Scots held on for a rare victory. Levein couldn't have asked for a better start to his time as Scotland manager, particularly as these two sides will again butt heads in the Euro 2012 qualifiers.

(Image taken from Soccernet)

Wales faced Swden at th Liberty Stadium. The Welsh fielded a weakened lineup due to injuries but still seemed to have the edge early on but their young side was soon given a reality check when Joham Elmander opened the scoring for the Swedes. Wales looked strong again for a while early on in the second half despite John Toshack seemingly completely overhauling their team with subs but it was Sweden that ended the match the better side. Toshack butting heads with Craig Bellamy for unknown reasons probably isn't doing the side any favours and given that Sweden aren't in vintage form themselves, this just highlights how much Wales are still a work in progress if that.

Nortern Ireland faced Albania in Qernal Stafa. Quite what Nigel Worthington thought his team would gain from this match I'm not sure. Either way, Ervin Skela opened the scoring for the home side and NI could have found themselves buried before half time. NI started to pick up some more chances in the second half even though the home side weren't done yet. Still, both sides blew their late chances with the visiting side looking more dissapointed at full time. Well this waste of time showed that...Northern Ireland can be beaten by Albania if they're not careful. Admittedly it was an experimental lineup which only 80 of their fans hauled themselves out to see but still...dissapointing.

The Republic of Ireland faced Brazil at the Emirates Stadium of all places. The men in green had a pretty good start to the match but things then started to fall apart just before half time Keith Andrews put the ball in his own net. Neither gaffer put any subs on till relatively late on in the game and the Irish continued to give the sambaistas a match. However class will always tell and Robinho hit the net late on to finish the match off. Still, Geovanni Trappotoni didn't seem to be too concerned about the defeat. The fact is, the Brazilians didn't have things all their own way and the ROI do look in reasonable shape for the Euro 2012 qualifiers.

Now we have the domestic season to see out though.

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