England (0) 5 Ferdinand 52, Kuchma (og) 65, Rooney 77, 86, Defoe 90
Kazakhstan (0) 1 Kukeyev 68
Att. 89,107
Entrance: £45
Programme: £6
Mileage: 100/2,540
Match Report
In a heart-stopping moment four minutes after half-time, Kazakhstan were offered the golden opportunity to open the scoring at Wembley. Tanat Nusserbayev wastefully lofted over the bar from four yards with the goal at his mercy. Another four minutes had passed when a Frank Lampard corner was completely missed by the Kazakh goalkeeper leaving captain Rio Ferdinand with the easiest of nod-ins. The cheer raised by the Wembley crowd was one of relief more than celebration.The full house had booed the home side from the pitch following another half of football that had produced none of the quality from Croatia that had re-ignited the passion for the international team. The star of Zagreb, Theo Walcott had not only added a fair few thousand to the gate, but led the Kazakhs a merry dance for the first 20 minutes. Their only recourse was to foul the flying winger, but slowly they got a hold of him and sadly Theo faded from the game.
The second half transformation had been brought about by a change to a formation that didn’t waste the talent of Wayne Rooney. Stuck out on the left, Rooney looked frustrated as the game passed him by. Fabio Capello is still tinkering with 4-3-3 while the rest of us know that England are not capable of playing anything other than 4-4-2. Gareth Barry, rather unluckily was sacrificed for Shaun Wright-Phillips, this was not the change that made the difference but the move allowed Rooney to move inside and play off Emile Heskey.
When a Lampard free kick had skewed off the head of a Kazakh defender into his own net, England were on easy street until an incomprehensible error from Ashley Cole allowed the visitors back into the game. A wayward back pass left Kukeyev with the chance that he buried to the delight of the small assembly of Kazakh supporters. This prompted an outrageous reaction from some England supporters. Cole was booed every time he touched the ball, much to the disgust of both proper supporters who attempted to drown out the noise with clapping and later from coach and captain in interviews. It was really quite shameful, completely unnecessary, we all make mistakes.
Although it failed to stem the abuse on Cole, Rooney converted a Wes Brown cross with a well placed header and following David Beckham’s rapturously received entry, Rooney added another and Defoe, on as a substitute also, completed the scoring.
Five goals and a comfortable victory flattered England completely, although Kazakhstan performed much better than their world ranking of 131. The group is beginning to take shape and England lead the way, but they are a long way from convincing their rather fractious and fragile support.
My 365 article on the booing of Ashley Cole.
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