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Cap fits - just - for Fabio
England nearly come undone through Shevchenko smash and grab
FIFA 2010 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING GROUP SIX
England 2 Ukraine 1
A relieved Fabio Capello summed up England’s World Cup qualifier success in his own inimitable way: “They played like a team. I like this and this is very important. And five wins is important.”
The manager said his team had made far more chances near goal, while Ukraine had just two shots, including the strike with which Andriy Shevchenko levelled the scores after 74 minutes, setting up a tense finale.
Well, he may have been exaggerating, there were at least three or four more attempts from the opposition, but few would disagree with his assessment that this was a tight and tough fixture.
His counterpart, a frustrated Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko, was more defensive and critical of his own attack. The idea had been to neutralise Wayne Rooney who, he said, “…had been active in the centre,” with Oleksandr Aliiev as their main player.
“Our plan was to keep Shevchenko on the side bench until the England team became exhausted and then produce a result,” he said.
And the plan had nearly worked, until man-of-the-match captain John Terry took England a step nearer a summer in South Africa with his 85th-minute Wembley winner to spoil Ukraine’s evening and dent their progress in the qualifying group.
Terry latched on to a Steven Gerrard ball from a David Beckham free kick, beating defender Dmytro Chygrynskyy with a left-footed shot, close in.
This was the end product of a fighting response from the home side after super-substitute Shevchecko had equalised against the general run of play.
Ukraine had, however, stepped up the pace as the game entered final quarter and the on-loan AC Milan star took their one real chance of the half in the 74th minute after the England defenders had failed to clear a free kick from the right.
But even before the winner, England had fought back well, both forcing a corner on the left and putting Beckham into space on the right. A long ball found Rooney free, close to goal, but his hurried shot drifted wide of the far post.
In the first half England had taken a well-deserved lead in the 29th minute of this frenetic and tense match, with a Peter Crouch volley after Terry had knocked down a Frank Lampard corner from the left.
Unlike the friendly with Slovakia on Saturday, their opposition were showing measured resilience and an ability to snap and harry in midfield, while obviously looking for the quick break-out.
As at the weekend, the best early move of the game, on six minutes, had come from Rooney after a slick move involving Gerrard.
This time, however, the Manchester United star had his back to goal and his attempt at the overhead kick failed to embarrass the Ukraine keeper Andrii Piatov.
England had shown good intent from the start, with the lions’ share of possession.
But it was V’yacheslav Shevchuk who had the first shot on target after he found a little space on the left. But his effort was easily gathered by David James.
After Rooney’s acrobatics, England did show a little of their game plan with two classy cross-field moves. The first, from Rooney to Frank Lampard to Aaron Lennon fizzled out, but the second also from left to right, and also lightning fast, involving Gerrard to Rooney to Lennon resulted in a worthwhile cross which challenged the Ukraine defence.
Promising moves from Mykhaylychenko’s side regularly broke down in midfield, and a long, hopeful, cross from Artem Milevskyy, following good work down the right with Dynamo Kiev team-mate Oleksandr Aliiev, was typical of their first half. Nevertheless with the Kiev men combining well, Taras Mykhalyk included, Ukraine continued to look capable of a telling counter-attack.
After the first England goal the home side continued to press and Rooney was unlucky not to connect cleanly with a Lennon cross, his best of the evening, 10 minutes before the break.
It was Rooney again, capping off a fine first-half display, who ran across from left to right, before regaining composure and putting Gerrard in for a low shot on target, which was well saved.
A dipping, swerving, shot by captain Anatoliy Tymoshchuk from far out, had forced an ugly parry from James after 36 minutes, but there were few bright moments for the visitors.
In the third quarter both sides slowed the tempo, with few chances, until Rooney won a free kick four yards outside of the box, when brought down by Mykhalyk, who had already been booked. Beckham, who had come on for Lennon after 57 minutes looped his shot to Piatov’s left, dipping it just over the bar and into the top netting.
Referee: Claus Bo Larsen (Denmark).
Goals: Crouch 29
Shevchenko 74
Terry 85
Attendance: 87,548 |
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