England last met the 'Soca Warriors' in the 1996 World Cup and were relieved to squeeze two goals in during the last 10 minutes to win the game 2-0 on that occasion.
This time in the Trinidadian heat, England quickly asserted their superiority with two goals in the first fifteen minutes.
Capello rang the changes replacing six from the starting lineup from the last game. Two of those players combine for the first goal with Bridge setting up Barry to volley past a flailing keeper from short range on 12 minutes. Three minutes later, another replacement Stuart Downing put Defoe into space and Defoe slipped it past the keeper for England's second. A lot of the action was on England's left and Beckham was seen to wander over to the left on occasions to get a sniff of the ball.
Trinidad started to find their feet after 25 mins or so Carlos Edwards having the best chance, but David James was well-positioned to pluck the ball out of the air. A few minutes later, Dean Ashton had an excellent chance to capitalise on a glorious cross from Beckham, but he failed to control the volley.
The second half saw substitutes-a-plenty with Beckham giving way to Bentley again. After 5 minutes of the second half, Bentley provided a cross which found the head of a defender, the ball dropped at Defoe's feet who put the ball away for his second goal of the night and England's third. More substitutions saw Walcott come on for England and Dwight Yorke for Trinidad.
England remained firmly in control to record another victory where any other result would have been disastrous.
Beckham's views were that he was surprised but honoured to be picked as captain, and was looking forward to starting the World Cup qualifiers.
1 comment:
glad to see England back in form after the devastating miss of the Euro 2008. The Euro 2008 feels somewhat empty without England. Great to see Beckham captain and he got a well deserved win.
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