The Hindu : Sport / Football : England wins, but fails to impress

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Friday, Mar 30, 2007
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England wins, but fails to impress

Barcelona: Steven Gerrard pulled England back from the brink of humiliation as Steve McClaren's side laboured to a 3-0 win over Group E minnow Andorra in a Euro 2008 qualifier here on Wednesday.

Gerrard's second-half double and a last minute strike by substitute David Nugent, who bundled the ball over the line after Koldo Alvarez had fumbled Jermain Defoe's shot, ensured England emerged with the three points and a respectable enough scoreline.

But in reality it was another woefully disjointed display that will only have exacerbated the pressure on McClaren as he battles to salvage his job and England's chances of reaching next year's finals in Austria and Switzerland.

A training ground injury to Frank Lampard had relieved McClaren of his main selection dilemma - whether or not to drop the Chelsea midfielder.

With the issue resolved by the hairline wrist fracture Lampard suffered in training earlier this week, Gerrard was restored to his favoured role at the sharp end of a midfield diamond. It was the Liverpool captain who provided England's first serious threat, a long-range effort that swerved dangerously in the swirling wind and drew a good save from Koldo in the 18th minute.

Wayne Rooney's desperation to get back on the goal track for his country was reflected in the way he grabbed the ball for a 12th minute free kick. But so too was his recent form as the dead ball was curled a good two yards wide from barely 20 yards out.

Andy Johnson was giving the Andorrans more problems. Having turned his marker before sending a 27th-minute effort narrowly over, the Everton striker forced Koldo to get down sharply to his left for his second save of the night, six minutes before the interval.

The start of the second half brought a marked increase in England's tempo. Hargreaves fired one effort narrowly wide and Downing forced another good save from Koldo before Gerrard finally put England ahead, nine minutes after the restart.

The Andorran defence failed to deal with Lennon's cross from the right and when the ball fell to Rooney, he was able to flick a sideways pass to Gerrard, who thumped his shot into Koldo's bottom right-hand corner from the edge of the penalty box.

Gerrard finally made the result safe 14 minutes before the end, combining with substitute Jermaine Defoe in the inside-left channel before slotting a side-footed shot past Koldo.

Nugent's late strike ensured the scoreline was given a respectable edge, but it came too late to stop the visiting supporters from spending the closing minutes chanting, "We want McClaren out."

The results: Euro 2008 qualifiers: England 3 (Gerrard 2, Nugent) bt Andorra 0; Serbia 1 (Jankovic) drew with Portugal 1 (Tiago); Spain 1 (Iniesta) bt Iceland 0; Bulgaria 0 drew with Albania 0; Slovenia 0 lost to Holland 1 (Van Bronckhorst); Romania 3 (Mutu, Contra, Marica) bt Luxembourg 0; Liechtenstein 1 (Frick) bt Latvia 0; Israel 4 (Tal, Colautti, Sahar 2) bt Estonia 0; Czech Republic 1 (Kovac) bt Cyprus 0; Republic of Ireland 1 (Doyle) bt Slovakia 0; Wales 3 (Giggs, Bale, Koumas-pen) bt San Marino 0; Hungary 2 (Priskin, Gera) bt Moldova 0; Malta 0 lost to Greece 1 (Basinas-pen); Turkey 2 (Altintop 2) drew with Norway 2 (Brenne, Andresen); Italy 2 (Toni 2) bt Scotland 0; Georgia 3 (Siradze, Iashvili 2 including a penalty) bt Faroe Islands 1 (Jacobsen); Ukraine 1 (Gusev) bt Lithuania 0; Poland 1 (Zurawski) bt Armenia 0; Azerbaijan 1 (Imamaliev) bt Finland 0; Northern Ireland 2 (Healy 2) bt Sweden 1 (Elmander).

International friendlies: France 1 (Benzema) bt Austria 0; Germany 0 lost to Denmark 1 (Bendtner); Mexico 4 (Palencia, Marquez, Bravo, Bautista) bt Ecuador 2 (Tenorio, Espinoza); Honduras 2 (Martinez 2) bt El Salvador 0; USA 0 drew with Guatemala 0; South Africa 0 lost to Bolivia 1 (Vaca). — Agencies

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