logo

The injustice was that Wales had fought hard and played well in a match they had chances of winning

Posted by admin   ·     ·   Jump to comments

The injustice was that Wales had fought hard and played well in a match they had chances of winning."I'm disappointed with the result but pleased with the performance," said the Wales manager, John Toshack, whose main aim in the next year is to rebuild his team to become competitive for Euro 2008 qualifying On Coyne's error, he added: "He was unfortunate. But better that it happens now than in 18 or 20 months' time."The England keeper David James did something very similar in this same stadium earlier in the campaign and it cost him his position in the team. 6Rio Ferdinand: Had little to do at the heart of defence before being replaced by Ledley King. Forced to make important saves to deny Gurban Gurbanov in the early stages of both halves Kept concentration well. Mark: 7/10Gary Neville: Spent more time attacking down the right flank and supporting Beckham than defending, but his final ball let him down too often. England attacked to the end but they had already made their point, albeit one that lacked the emphasis of goals.ENGLAND MAN FOR MANPaul Robinson: Far busier than he would have anticipated.

He controlled the ball on his chest and slipped it past Karamenko.Before Rooney was substituted, he gave one more glimpse of the savage power in his right boot, volleying a Beckham cross from the edge of the area that needed an excellent save from Karamenko. Frank Lampard's ball from deep was the key, indeed just the kind that the England captain made his name providing, but this time Beckham was in the striker's role. On the left, Rooney leapt over one challenge, dodged another and, with the Azerbaijan area his to roam free in, chipped a ball back to Gerrard, who struck his volley into the ground but it bounced up and in off the underside of the bar.The second goal was England's first successful breach of Azerbaijan's shaky offside trap, which was sprung to allow in Beckham. England complained in vain about time-wasting and the fraught mood was not helped when the fussy Portuguese referee Paulo Gomes Costa bizarrely booked Beckham for removing his boot.There was a smattering of boos at the half-time whistle but it took only six minutes of the new half for England to take the lead.

But once the ball was in the area, Azerbaijan defended resolutely as their goal became a shooting target that was peppered by a posse of enthusiastic, if inaccurate, England attackers. Only once, on seven minutes, did Azerbaijan break free when their striker Gurban Gurbanov pulled away from John Terry and struck a shot that bounced out of Paul Robinson's reach but wide of the post.At times, England's attack lacked subtle variation but it was hard to fault their industry. They ceded great swathes of the pitch and they appeared to have given up defending their left flank which England used as a staging post for a series of attacks crafted by Beckham's right foot. Azerbaijan were supposed to accept their destruction meekly and, for long periods of the first half, they did just that.

readers comments

Comments are closed.

NBA

NBA

MLB

MLB

NFL

NFL

NHL

NHL

WWE

WWE

Your sideblock text goes here