England were the talk of the World after they qualified for World Cup 2010 emphatically with a 5-1 against Croatia. Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard both contributed two goals each. Wayne Rooney was gifted a tap-in, but also contributed an assist. Gareth Barry had an accomplished game marshalling the midfield.But it was
Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon who came of age. His goal bound run brought about the opening penalty and crossed for Gerrard to make it 2-0.Under Fabio Capello England’s full-backs get to roam forward and yet again Chelsea’s Ashley Cole had a good game at both ends of the pitch. Glen Johnson also had a decent game contributing an assist with excellent technique to find Lampard in the box. Keeping his place in the international team of the week was
Sunderland’s Paulo da Silva after helping Paraguary to a 1-0 victory over struggling Argentina. The Republic of Ireland weren’t involved in any qualifiers and had a friendly against World Cup hosts South Africa. They won 1-0 thanks to
Stoke’s Liam Lawrence scoring a free-kick and another commanding performance from
Man City’s Richard Dunne. Stephen Kelly of
Birmingham City also played well.Edcuador secured a 3-1 victory against Bolivia and
Manchester United’s recent signing Antonio Valencia scored the crucial second.Roman Pavlyuchenko was amongst the scorer’s as Guus Hiddinks Russia won 3-1 against Wales.As was Nicklas Bendtner who has two in two for Denmark with his strike in their 1-1 draw with Albania.His
Arsenal teammate Cesc Fabregas returned from injury for Spain and played the full 90 minutes. The Spainard opened the scoring with a placed finish in Spain’s 3-0 win over Estonia, which secured the Iberians qualification.Portugal laboured to a 1-0 win away to Hungary, as
Chelsea’s Ricardo Carvalho was solid in defence.Tim Howard of
Everton, kept a clean sheet for USA in their 1-0 win in Trinidad and Tobago. But
Bolton’s Jussi Jaaskelainen was unlucky to concede after playing well, as Finland conceded an unfortunate deflected goal to deny them a win in their 1-1 draw with Liechtenstein.
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Team: Tim Howard, Glen Johnson, Richard Dunne, Paulo da Silva, Ashley Cole; Aaron Lennon, Cesc Fabregas, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard; Wayne Rooney, Roman PavlyuchenkoSubstitutes: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Stephen Kelly, Ricardo Carvalho, Gareth Barry, Liam Lawrence, Antonio Valencia, Nicklas BendtnerPowered by: GiveMeFootball.com, the
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