Welcome to the World of Beckham blog, we aim to keep you up to date with developments in the career of David Beckham a footballer from the UK who has played for some of the top teams in the world.

Wednesday 11 August 2010

England 2 Hungary 1

This new look England team, with a new formation started the game well retaining 100% possession for the first 5 minutes or so right from the kick-off. Yet the longer they went without scoring, the more anxious fans and players became.
However, in the first few minutes Rooney had the ball in the net shortly before realising he had been flagged for off-side. Other chances came for this team which included the likes of Walcott, Jagielka, Adam Johnson and Joe Hart in goal (none of whom played in the World Cup). Walcott was a revelation, skipping past players and even getting crosses in - one lovely cut-back saw Adam Johnson uncharacteristically fire over the bar from close range.
England played efficiently and dominated the first half, which finished 0-0, nevertheless the fans were not delighted...
The second half saw the introduction of more new blood in the form of Keiran Gibbs, Bobby Zamora, Ashley Young and Dawson. It was just 15 minutes into the half that saw Dawson make an error, going to ground and allowing Zoltan Gera space in front of goal. The resulting pass and shot was deflected towards the goal, Dawson came flying in to make amends by clearing the ball milliseconds before crossing the line, but the linesman had already flagged and the goal was given. England 1-0 down, it wasn't as blatant as Lampards effort against Germany, but now England have suffered through linesman error in two games on the trot...
This goal (as so often happened in the World Cup qualifiers) animated England, Milner came on for Rooney (no doubt an hour was the limit stipulated by Sir Alex..), and a few minutes later Gerrard found himself in a bit of space 25 yards from goal and struck the ball with venom into the left-hand corner, 1-1 and game on!
4 minutes later and Gerrard scored again, this time using exquisite skills in the box rather than brute force, forcing his way through defenders and poking the ball past the keeper to seal an England victory - Dependable Gerrard, a 30-year-old in a team of youngsters, stepping up when Rooney had left the field - what a night for the England captain.
All-in-all, a solid performance to settle the nerves, Adam Johnson will surely be scoring his first goal in an England shirt fairly soon, he had the chance to play both on the left, and on the right and looked good. Walcott looked good, Gibbs looked good, Gerrard was inspired, Zamora had a great chance in the closing minutes tipped over the bar, as did Adam Johnson. Hart stood up well to deny Gera a late equaliser for Hungary - the only question is whether Rooney is really in the right place mentally when he puts on the shirt in the current England line-up...

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