England 1 - 0 Belgium

We Shall Score One More Than You

The words of Fat Les’ Vindaloo ring true in the ear of many England fans. “We shall Score One More Than You, ENGLAND!” And whilst one extra goal does quantify a victory, an extra two or three may put some of the travelling English fans slightly more at ease.

Roy Hodgson’s men travelled to Wembley for the first time and without a huge weight of expectation. The absence of Wayne Rooney was part of this and the return of the former of Everton prodigy may be something that Hodgson is not looking forward to. Rooney’s talent, whilst obvious even to the untrained eye, may not fit exactly to the England gameplan.

Take Saturday’s affair with Belgium and specifically the goal; a picture perfect through-ball from Ashley Young would glide majestically to the foot of Welbeck who choose to finish with an heir of Samuel Eto’o about his goal. Welbeck took little time to control the ball and chipped Simon Mignolet using his left boot. This incisive breakaway made the score 1 - 0 and that’s how the game finished and I suddenly feel a great sense of déjà-vu from my last blog entry.

England invited pressure and caught their opponents out using a moment of inspiration from Welbeck as they did last week with Ashley Young. And the more I watch the replays the more I think Greece 2004.

1 - 0 no more

It’s not pretty, it’s not impressive and it times it looks lucky. Come the end of 90 minutes you can’t argue with the result. England won. Yes Belgium hit the woodwork through Guillaume Gillet, but Defoe did the same after he came on. And ask either of the Liverpool fans there are no rewards for hitting the woodwork.

Liverpool hit the post, crossbar or upright more than any other Premiership club.

Belgium made many attempts to get back into the game and Lukaku grimaced at the sight of the assistant referee’s flag in injury time. An otherwise brilliant ball from Fellaini put Lukaku through on goal but after the flag went up Romelu Lukaku was been living in the land of ‘what ifs’.


So the final whistle blew and England finish one goal to the good. Shades of Greece 2004 sitting ever present in memory. That year Greece’s best player Stelios Giannakopoulos spent the vast majority of the tournament watching from the sidelines and in Wayne Rooney, England may be feeling the same.


The omens are there... and for the superstitious readers out there, here’s one more. Who hosted the Olympics the year Greece won the Euros?

Norway 0 - 1 England

Norway 'Stay' 1 - 0 down to England

Stay was the Norwegian entry to the Eurovision Song Contest and Stay was the word coming from Egil Olsen in the Norwegian dugout. England went one goal to the good thanks to a sublime Ashley Young finish and Norway stayed put for the remaining 80 minutes.

Roy Hodgson’s men lined up quite defensively with Andy Carroll playing as the sole striker. Carroll's aerial prowess was ever-present as it took just four minutes for Carroll to get overexcited heading wide of the mark. Gerrard was rock solid in the centre of the park for the opening 20 minutes, but began to give away possession cheaply as the half wore on. At the stroke of half-time it was a routine substitution that saw Gerrard give way to Gareth Barry.

Barry, whose fitness had come into question, lasted little more than 25 minutes. Barry was replaced by Jordan Henderson after complaining of strain to the groin.

Young subbed for someone younger

The other substitution of note was Young leaving the field to be replaced by Oxlade-Chamberlain who made his fiery debut. Oxlade-Chamberlain made some exciting runs but without an end product. It was Young, who perhaps didn’t have the pace of Oxlade-Chamberlain but did have the experience to finish. This was the difference between the two players.

Young’s goal came about from a good old fashioned long ball over the top. Young ran to the edge of the penalty area and placed the ball onto his right foot ready to score. Young had us all fooled including the Norwegian defence. He skipped past his man and dribbled the ball into the box, his finish was struck left footed and into the far corner. This made it 6 goals for Young and 1 – 0 to England. The game looked set to be a rout from here on out, but no man in a changed blue England strip could double the tally.

Robert Green, who hadn’t played for England since his famous day against the USA, will grow in confidence after springing together a few good saves and earning England a clean sheet. Rob Green will certainly come up against stiffer opposition should he pick up a cap in Euro 12. As for the opposition, the best routine of the night to come out of Norway came from Tooji and his backing dancers.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOdRFtwTzb8 

England: Green, Jones (^Kelly), Jagielka, Lescott, Baines, Parker (^Walcott), Gerrard (^Barry (^Henderson)), Milner, Young (^Oxlade-Chamberlain), Downing (^Pacman Johnson), Carroll

Norway: Jarstein, Hogli (^Ruud), Demidov, Hangeland, Riise, Tettey (^Jenssen), Elyounoussi, Henriksen (^Berisha), G Pedersen (^Grindheim), Braaten (^Huseklepp), Moa

Goals

England: Young

Man of the Match: Tooji

He didn't play, but then again, neither did the Norwegians.