samedi 26 mars 2011

England cruise to victory in Wales

England returned to the top of Euro 2012 qualifying Group G on Saturday with a comfortable 2-0 victory away against Wales.
Frank Lampard put England ahead with a seventh-minute penalty, and when Darren Bent added a second eight minutes later, the game was as good as won.
England lead the group on goal difference from Montenegro, while Wales remain bottom of the group without a point.

Fabio Capello sent his side out in an unexpected 4-3-2-1 shape, Wayne Rooney and Ashley Young tucked behind Darren Bent.
"It was a new formation but everybody knew what they were doing and it worked," said Young
"We worked on getting the ball back as soon as we lost it and putting them under pressure straight away."

The new formation bore early fruit as John Terry advanced from the back, exchanged passes with Ashley Cole on the left and slipped a pass into the box for Young.

James Collins slipped, giving Young space, and as the Wales centre-back attempted to recover, he tripped his opponent. Lampard sent Wayne Hennessey the wrong way from the spot.

Eight minutes later, England doubled their advantage, and again Young was a key figure.

Glen Johnson played a superb 60-yard ball for him to run onto and when he crossed, Bent was there to slam in.

"We gave away two early goals and we couldn't recover from that," said Wales captain Aaron Ramsey. "It was a mountain to climb from there."

It was a procession from there on in. Wales didn't muster their first shot until the 57th minute, and that was fired over by Steve Morison.

England forced a string of corners and free-kicks, but without really testing Hennessey.

They got a little sloppy late on, allowing Wales possession, but this was a win of almost tedious ease.

"We're trying to play a different style form what we're used to and it took us a while to get into that," said Wales defender Ashley Williams.

"We said before the game that we wanted to be brave and get on the ball and pass it. We can take a lot form this game."

After another week in which his style of management has come in for criticism, Capello will not mind that.

"Getting the three points and getting top of the group is the main thing and if we can put in more performances like that we should stay up there," said Young.

The only negative for England was the yellow card picked up by Wayne Rooney that means he will miss the game against Switzerland in June through suspension.

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