ENGLAND WIN DESPITE MEXICAN MESS

 

The last time we faced Mexico was at Pride Park of all places back in '01. It was the early days of the Sven Goran Erriccson era, I was coming to the back end of my A Levels and watching the match at the Anglers in Teddington. Scholesey, then a core England international, opened the scoring. Robbie Fowler, still a reliable assasin for Liverpool made it two. Becks, at his peak with United made it three before half time and a third then-MUFC player, Teddy Sheringham finished the Mexicans off. Well it was the honeymood period of the Sven era and even with the Three Lions bouncing all over the place due to Wembley being rebuilt, these were the sort of results we'd come to expect.

Fast forward to the present day and another foreigner is in charge of the national side. All England fans have come to bow down to Fabio Capello but now he faces his toughest test since becoming gaffer - the 2010 World Cup. Occasions like this are what he's paid big money for and he has picked 30 players to try out before naming his final squad. He took those players to Austria for a week or so before bringing them back to Wembley for a rumble with a Mexican side that he wouldn't have been stupid enough to underestimate. Trying out a 4-2-3-1. Johnson right back, Rio(as captain) and King in central defence(first international start of the Capello era), Carrick and Milner in central midfield, Walcott, Rooney and Lampard as midfield-attack link men and Crouch up front.

Well the opening few minutes suggested that this experiment was looking to be a disaster. Mexico seemed to have the freedom of the field. Yet somehow it was England that opened the scoring in the 17th minute when a 17th minute Gerrard corner found Crouch who headed it on to King who headed in his first England goal since '04! Yet the Mexicans would not be subdued. Still England managed to go two up in the 37th minute though it must have been the most bizarre goal I've seen England score. Rooney sent a header towards goal, their goalie saves but the ball goes straight up...and Crouch bundles it over the line with not-sure-what part of his body. To be fair, Mexico still deserved a goal and they got one when a defensive clearance went wrong and Gilermo Franco got to stick it in the net in the 45th minute.

The second half saw England suitably overhauled for the occasion and then in the 47th minute, Walcott set up Johnson who burned three Mexican defenders before scorching in his first ever international goal. After that, Mexico quietened down a fair bit, at least enough to make this a more even affair. Fabio decided to give a couple of guys their England debuts before the game gradually cruised to a halt with both sides missing further opportunities before the end. Welll I'm never going to complain about an England win over solid opposition but still, this experiment of Fabio's had mixed results. Chances are he'll alrready know that though.

Elsewhere, Wales faced Croatia at the Gradski VRT. Well the Wales starting lineup wasn't what John Toshack had had in mind but still they held out well enough in the first half untill Ivan Ratkitic opened the scoring. Wales weren't completely useless in attack either though and had a fair number of chances to equalise but there was no doubt Croatia were the better side on the night and Drago Gabric was able to finish them off. Croatia may not be going to South Africa themselves but Wales can't complain too much given the circumstances here. Croatia are still the superior side and it was always likely to take more than a bare bones Wales team to see them off.

Northern Ireland visited Turkey at the Veterans Stadium. NI fielded a very untested side in this encounter but despite the difference in level of resources available, Nigel Worthington's team aquitted themselves well in the first half. The second half didn't go so well to plan however. Secan Yildiram opened the scoring for Turkey early on in the period and and Semih Senturk made it two to give the young British side a reality check. This was the first of two games NI are due to play in the US with this rough and ready squad and expectations are presumably low. Still, it'll be interesting to see if there's an improved performance neext time around.

The Republic of Ireland faced Paraguay at the RDS Arena. Kevin Doyle opened the scoring for the men in green and enjoyed an edge and certainly more clinical finishing over their South American visitors with Liam Lawrence getting their second before half time. Paraguay pulled one back early on in the 2nd half thanks to Lucas Barrios but the latter stages of the match proved to be pretty quiet and an equaliser was never likely. Beating one of the teams that is heading for South Africa is not something for Geovanni Trappatoni to complain about and he came out of this game optimistic of his chances of getting the Irish to Euro 2012 in POLUKR.

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