World Cup qual. - England see off Kazakhstan

Eurosport - Mon, 13 Oct 12:37:00 2008

England beat Kazakhstan 5-1 in a World Cup Group 6 qualifier at Wembley but Fabio Capello's side produced a poor display and were humiliated when the visitors scored.

2008 England-Kazakhstan Wayne Rooney - 0

Wayne Rooney found the net twice as England secured the third straight win of their bid to reach South Africa in 2010, but Italian Capello must reflect on a largely listless, complacent performance.

After a goalless first half, Rio Ferdinand headed England ahead on 52 minutes before Alexandr Kuchma's own-goal made it two.

Zhambyl Kukeyev, astonishingly, pulled one back on 68 minutes after a mind-boggling error by Ashley Cole, before Rooney made the result safe with a glancing header and a close-range tap-in. Subsitute Jermain Defoe added a fifth late on.

If England turned a corner when they beat Croatia 4-1 in Zagreb, they slammed the car into reverse and went back where they came from with this performance.

In Zagreb, England were like dervishes, snapping into tackles and attacking with speed and verve.

This was as flat a performance as England have produced under any of their last three managers - totally devoid of urgency, dynamism or finesse for 70 minutes.

Only Theo Walcott posed an English threat in the first half; not afraid to turn on his pace to get behind Kazakh left-back Alexandr Kirov.

However, other than in the third minute when he found Emile Heskey, whose effort was blocked, the Kazakh penalty area was notable for the almost complete absence of white shirts.

Capello partially rectified the situation at half-time when he brought Shaun Wright-Phillips on for Gareth Barry.

Although it remains a mystery why anyone would bank on a Frank Lampard-Steven Gerrard central midfield partnership after so many years of failure.

Early in the second half, left-back Cole found himself caught woefully out of position early in the second half, allowing Sabyrkhan Ibrayev to cross from the right.

Luckily for England, Sergey Ostapenko failed to get hold of his downward header and the otherwise excellent debutant Tanat Nusserbayev skied the rebound, but it was the best chance of the first 50 minutes for either side.

Three minutes later relief coursed around Wembley when Ferdinand headed England in front thanks to some poor defending from the visitors.

Lampard curled in a routine corner from the left, Alexandr Mokin missed his punch and Ferdinand met the ball with a firm header without even jumping.

Far from inspiring England to greater things, the goal encouraged yet more complacency and uncertainty.

On the hour mark, Lampard played a corner to Gerrard at the edge of the box. Had he been playing for Liverpool, Gerrard would have smashed the ball into the top corner without thinking. But this is England, and he switched feet several times before losing possession in abject fashion.

To their credit, England did create a second goal on 64 minutes - again from a Lampard set piece - as Kuchma glanced Lampard's free-kick into the top-left corner of his own net with unfortunate aplomb.

Then Cole produced his party piece, lobbing a showy, reckless pass across the face of the English defence. Kukeyev could hardly believe his luck as he ran onto the ball, steadied himself and fired into the bottom-left corner.

As England threatened to fall apart, Rooney finally asserted himself. With 15 minutes remaining he found himself alone in the penalty box and headed a Wes Brown corner precisely into the corner.

Then, as time ran down, he pounced after Kazakhstan failed to deal with a free-kick delivery from David Beckham.

There was still time for Jermain Defoe to add further gloss to the scoreline, running through alone and slotting past Mokin from the edge of the box.

Ukraine 0-0 Croatia

England received another boost when Ukraine and Croatia cancelled each other out in a drab qualifier in Kiev.

Oleksiy Mykhaylichenko's men had won their opening two encounters but now sit two points behind Fabio Capello's men.

The result leaves top-seeded Croatia five points off the top of the table, although they can expect maximum points when they play Andorra on Wednesday.

Alex Chick / Eurosport

Comment 186 - 205 of 245

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  1. Dear oh dear!!! What's wrong with you people? A­ reporter reports. That's what they do. If a team­ doesn't play well, regardless of the result, it has­ to be reported. Tell it like it is. I thought it was a­ good article and I agree - England didn't play well­ but they won. End of.

    From francein09, on Sun 12 Oct 9:42AM

  2. How many times do we have to witness the­ Gerrard,Lampard show.............or lack of it.
    It­ doesnt,& will never work.For Christs sake,cop your­ self on Cappello.
    Change it

    From harkinsinturkey, on Sun 12 Oct 9:40AM

  3. Taking into account all the games played yesterday,­ David Beckham is the best player of European origin.­ No-one has that star quality that can lift a crowd and­ team so much, i saw him run past the left back with­ ease and cross magnificently....mark my words capello­ will have him on the bench in world cup 2010. David­ Beckham looks after his body as well as Teddy­ Sheringham did. Teddy was never quick - but he was­ intelligent. Capello knows these things....

    From kahan2, on Sun 12 Oct 9:40AM

  4. further to comments made by 195, I too try to forget­ the atrocitys made against the english people by the­ african citizens of this country...come on man,Put the­ race thing aside this is football....

    From jockey2007, on Sun 12 Oct 9:36AM

  5. i didn't watch this game as I always watch with­ high expectations and am used to being totally let down­ by boys trying to be men. The sooner we get real men­ playing the game with grit and determination the­ better. Having said that, a win is a win.
    Good luck­ Cappello it is not your performance that will lose the­ manager his job, thats one for the boys!

    From lahanphilip, on Sun 12 Oct 9:31AM

  6. Was I watching a different game or what? I saw an­ England team that totally dominated their opponents, OK­ they didn't create many "Clear Cut"­ chances in the 1st half but that was down mainly to­ some tough defending by the Kazaks, who were strong(!)­ & quick into the tackle. I also saw, FOR ONCE, an­ England side that didn't PANIC because they­ hadn't scored early doors! They knew that they were­ in control & that if they just kept doing their­ jobs that the result would come! So we had a couple of­ scares & conceded a sloppy goal, SO WHAT!! WE­ SCORED 5!!
    When was the last time that you saw,­ especially at international level, a team go through an­ entire game without creating a least ONE chance.­ Journalists & so called fans who complaing after a­ game like yesterday are one of two things, 1) TOTAL­ FECKING IDIOTS WHO HAVEN'T GOT A CLUE or 2) Living­ in cloud cuckoo land where England go out & win­ every game 17-0 playing without a keeper cos we­ don't need one!! GROW UP PEOPLE, Enjoy the victory­ & try praising the good stuff instead of focusing­ on the negative for once, You never know you may find­ that you actually like it!!!

    From Madgooner62, on Sun 12 Oct 9:27AM

  7. Although I can't stand Ashley Cole, to boo him for­ one mistake is ridiculous! Come on England (and­ Capello!)!!

    From olliep_1977, on Sun 12 Oct 9:26AM

  8. come on scotland

    From scottorcorey, on Sun 12 Oct 9:15AM

  9. You call yourself England supporters put a England­ shirt on and then go to the game and boo a player­ because he makes a mistake,you are all pathetic.

    From SUSAN C, on Sun 12 Oct 8:55AM

  10. STEVEYBOY,3 WINS IN A ROW AND STILL PEOPLE COMPLAIN?IF­ A TEAM PLAYS BADLY AND STILL WINS 5-1 SURELY THATS A­ SIGN OF A GOOD TEAM,BETTER TO PLAY BADLY AND WIN THAN­ TO PLAY GOOD AND LOSE.CAPPELLO IS DOING A GOOD JOB,LET­ HIM GET ON WITH IT.PS.GERRARD AND LAMPARD JUST DONT­ SEEM TO WORK DO THEY?

    From steveyboy1954, on Sun 12 Oct 8:09AM

  11. More of the same...here come the cliches..two steps­ forward and three back, watching paint dry. It is a­ travesty too that Beckham is now level on caps with­ Bobby Charlton. Way past his sell by date..and why do­ we persist with Clamity James in goal ?????

    From Old Mr Happy, on Sun 12 Oct 7:22AM
  12. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    i am a nigerian forgettin the atrocity of english­ people towards the african people England is my team­ and they are doing well for now.God bless Deffoe

    From pope, on Sun 12 Oct 6:33AM
  13. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    i am a nigerian forgettin the atrocity of english­ people towards the african people England is my team­ and they are doing well for now.God bless Deffoe

    From pope, on Sun 12 Oct 6:33AM

  14. england were very poor. win is a win but this­ preformance was poor and goals came through bad­ keeping.

    From shizzelez, on Sun 12 Oct 5:33AM

  15. Why wasn't Borat in the squad? Injured?

    From yorkshire_bastard, on Sun 12 Oct 5:21AM

  16. Salty tasty Nibblets!

    From Ssm, on Sun 12 Oct 5:07AM

  17. poor display, humiliated? come on dude better than­ good display but lost? win is win.

    From Wahyu H, on Sun 12 Oct 5:03AM

  18. Alex Chick (the person who wrote this report) is a­ @#$%, a 5-1 wictory is good enough, and can't he­ forgive mistakes.

    From betafrancoshea, on Sun 12 Oct 4:51AM

  19. ian from Spain; Everyone screamed for a top manager to­ take the job and now they have one they are getting all­ upset again because things don't work right in the­ first 20 minutes. Capello needs to see things for­ himself before he decides to play his cards for the big­ games, I thought Theo was brilliant down the right he­ attacked them and scared them which is what steve g­ should be doing more of, but that will come with time­ under Capello, this team will destroy a top team soon­ then watch the band wagon fill up.

    From commandobluenose, on Sun 12 Oct 4:12AM

  20. unbelieveable to write such a negative article after a­ 5 - 1 victory, and ashley cole we all make mistakes so­ why humiliated? this article was written by some­ pessimistic numbnuts with the same iq as the regular­ house brick!

    From julienfeasey, on Sun 12 Oct 4:02AM
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