International Football - England down Slovenia

Eurosport - Sun, 06 Sep 10:15:00 2009

England warmed up for their World Cup clash with Croatia in midweek with a 2-1 win over Slovenia in a friendly at Wembley.

FOOTBALL 2009 International Friendly England's Jermain Defoe celebrates goal against Slovenia - 0

Frank Lampard's penalty put England ahead in the first half, before substitute Jermain Defoe continued his excellent form for club and country by doubling their lead after the break. Zlatan Ljubijankic scored a consolation for the visitors late on.

Slovenia may have provided marginally sterner opposition than the majority of the Wembley crowd had expected but, for the most part, Fabio Capello's side put in an encouragingly assured performance four days before they have the chance to seal their place in South Africa next year.

They have the chance to maintain their competitive 100 per cent record against the Croatia side that became their nemesis under previous boss Steve McClaren.

England deserved their lead when it came, although the manner in which it arrived was harsh on the visitors.

On the half-hour mark Wayne Rooney stumbled to the ground as he appeared to shove centre-back Bostjan Cesar, and the defender also went to ground as both players grabbed each other's shirts. To the surprise of everyone, including Rooney, Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson blew for the foul and pointed to the spot. Lampard drilled his spot-kick low and hard into the corner for his 18th international goal.

It was telling that Cesar was the one who hobbled off following the incident and did not retake the field, as he was replaced a few minutes later by Matej Mavric.

Ten minutes before Lampard's spot-kick, England had two excellent chances within moments of each other. First, Emile Heskey found Rooney with a flick-on and the Manchester United striker turned inside Miso Brecko, only for the full-back to recover and block the shot with a diving lunge.

From the subsequent corner, skipper John Terry was dominant in the air and won the header at the near post only to see it crash off the crossbar.

Half time brought with it four changes for England, with Defoe, Aaron Lennon, Michael Carrick and James Milner all coming on. Capello persisted with Robert Green in goal despite the West Ham man clearly catching the ball outside of his area in the first minutes of the match, although it was missed by the officials.

England began the second half in steady fashion, and got their reward when Lennon found Defoe with a square ball on the edge of the box. The Spurs winger continued his run, expecting a return pass, but instead Defoe struck early and fired into the bottom corner for his seventh goal of the season.

Lennon again looked lively as he scampered down the right and pulled a ball back to Rooney on the edge of the six-yard box, but somehow his strike was blocked on the line by the impressive Mavric.

Slovenia got their reward late on when substitute Necj Pecnik found Ljubijankic with a near post cross. England sub Joleon Lescott with not quick enough to react, and Ljubijankic steered his header past Green to deny the keeper a clean sheet.

Tony Mabert / Eurosport

Comment 126 - 145 of 145

Sort comments by: Most recent

  1. when scotland beat macedonia the english members of­ this site said that we were aweful and basically­ slagged us scots off. if the english team is so bloody­ good how come they can only beat slovenia 2-1 and one­ of those goals was by a diving rooney. seriously before­ u start wripping other nations try looking at your own­ first.

    From barleychee, on Mon 7 Sep 4:46PM

  2. "To the surprise of everyone, including Rooney,­ Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson blew for the foul and­ pointed to the spot".
    ROONEY SURPRISED!!!!! He was­ demanding for the penalty from the referee with arms up­ in the air! He brought doewn Cesar by stepping on­ Cesar's ankle nearly ripping off the foot from the­ rest of the leg! Rooney should be banned for 1 year for­ attempted amputation and deceiving the referee.
    He did­ the same thing against Arsenal recently by rubbing his­ legs against the Arsenal goalkeeper Almunia. He was­ already on his way down b4 contact was made.
    This only­ confirms that ROONEY IS THE KING OF CHEATS!!!!

    From Ozone, on Mon 7 Sep 1:24PM

  3. ramsdenphil, oh dear a jealous cry baby, all Utd­ players since 1993 are cheaters are they, boo hoo, so­ your team has always been in the shadow of Utd since­ then, so of course it must be because Utd players have­ been cheating, as it can't be becuase your team has­ not been good enough can it?
    Grow up and see the truth­ for what it is.

    From clive V, on Sun 6 Sep 10:40PM

  4. ALL HAIL ROONEY'S DIVES! Good luck England!

    From BozinT, on Sun 6 Sep 9:17PM

  5. Not with chelsea players in the team

    From Braveheart, on Sun 6 Sep 8:03PM

  6. england honest nation with honest footballers........

    From pasko, on Sun 6 Sep 4:59PM
  7. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Who cares!!! My boyfriend thinks the same with me. He­ is eight years older than me, lol. We met online at­ __Agemingle @ c o m__a nice and free place for Younger­ Women and Older Men, or Older Women and Younger Men, to­ interact with each other. Maybe you wanna check out

    From melindakay13, on Sun 6 Sep 3:56PM

  8. FFS rooney didnt cheat, the ref got it wrong.
    The only­ embarrassing thing was rooney almost broke that lads­ ankle and then put his arms out claiming HE was fouled.­ Unbelievable.

    Rooney has no shame. What a suprise, he­ plays for man u.

    From paul g, on Sun 6 Sep 3:04PM

  9. Rooney and Platini belong in the same cesspool, they­ both bring Football into disrepute, I reckon Fergie­ will be the next boss of UEFA, after all he is so­ HONEST and FAIR (I can just see him telling off his­ players for cheating CAN"T YOU) LOL. I've­ never been so dissapointed in Football in all my life,­ the worse thing of all is our kids are growing up­ thinking lying,cheating,diving,bribary and corruption­ are all in a normal days work, SHAMEFULL !!!!!!

    Is­ there any Honesty left in football, GOD I hope so.....

    From DARREN M, on Sun 6 Sep 3:03PM

  10. Rooney is a cheating little sh@t. We will see if FIFA­ will ban him as well or not (since he is an English­ player). Shame on him, Ferguson and the rest of the­ Man.u/England fans that do not agree Rooney is a cheat­ and should be banned.

    From suraya79s, on Sun 6 Sep 2:50PM

  11. Oh no word from UEFA about Rooney diving and­ cheating-of course not-as I said couple days ago UEFA­ love to use double standards.And I wonder whether Sir ­ Ferguson will talk about him diving as he did about­ Eduardo or whether Terry will mention it and so on.....

    From honeybeecro7, on Sun 6 Sep 2:25PM

  12. Rooney is not only a CHEAT...He is also a LIAR! Shame­ on Ferguson for speaking out, I hope he speaks to­ Rooney in public about his cheating ways.

    From Dale, on Sun 6 Sep 2:20PM

  13. Rooney dived 2 times(1 against ARS and 1 against­ SLO)He­ is worse than Eduardo,and 2 consecutive match­ diving,he­ should face 4 match diving.

    From Tham, on Sun 6 Sep 1:43PM

  14. Monkeys always cheat people and very cunning,just like­­ Rooney(His face like monkey=fact)

    From Tham, on Sun 6 Sep 1:43PM

  15. The penalty should not be given because Cesar did not­­ pull Rooney's shirt and felt off to the ground but­­ Rooney did.The camera showed clearly and many­­ comentators also said is not a penalty and Rooney is­­ cheating.I think maybe Rooney will ban like Eduardo­­ soon.He is a very cunning boy.

    From Tham, on Sun 6 Sep 1:42PM

  16. Chrls79M'UTD4life, That is the sort of reply i­ would expect from a man ure fan ( if you can call­ yourself that )
    unable to express yourself properly so­ having to resort to using such obscenities, Tut Tut­ Tut, stop getting your knickers in a twist it`s only­ rooney the looney were talking about who happens to­ play for man ure and who also happens to be a scouser,­ that must stick in your throat a bit eh.
    ­ ­ Good bye !

    From Bike 69, mabaho ka !, on Sun 6 Sep 12:40PM

  17. errr post 141 we've already won a world cup

    From adam j, on Sun 6 Sep 12:22PM
  18. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    TO POST 149..paul the S***E & Bike 69(MR SEX­ POSITION LOW LIFE) Bad­ Utot..

    FYI..THE TWO OF YOU CAN­ DO A 69 ROMP ALL OVER W MR MOUSTACHE,MR BARNEY &­ HIS FRIEND MR DULL,RIGHT AT THE VERY EYES OF THAT FAT­ SPANISH P***K & THAT NO 8 DIVING SCOUSE S***E IN A­ 80'S RETRO PORN FLICK CALLED 'YNWA 69 @#$%'­ PREMIERING @THE C**K END/MISERYSIDE W LOW LIFE SCOUSE­ S***E A**E FANS!!!..MUTHERF****R!!!...

    From Those Rats likes Bin dippin for free Cheeseburger, on Sun 6 Sep 11:41AM

  19. IF ROONEY CONNED THE REF SHOULDN'T HE B BANNED.­ THAT WAS NO WAY A PENALTY

    From imani65k, on Sun 6 Sep 11:24AM

  20. utd4life, sounds like you are coming to realise united­ are a very average side with not1 world class player,­ and also a very average midfield!! city are the new­ boys in town fella, with quality throughout the team.­ so get used to it b4 you have a heart attack you loon.­ also u vagina wart lol

    From paul, on Sun 6 Sep 11:23AM
Sort comments by: Most recent

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account