England (1) 2 Crouch 29, Terry 84
Ukraine (0) 1 Shevchenko 74
Att. 85,548
Entrance: £45
Programme: £6
Mileage: 100/7,225
Match Report
Five World Cup Qualifying wins out of five and a victory over one of the genuine competitors in Group Six leaves England in a position of complete control of their own destiny on the road to South Africa. But following a lacklustre second half England needed a late goal from skipper John Terry to rescue their 100% record.A near capacity crowd sat comfortably in their seats at half time following a first half in which England had totally dominated and had the enjoyment of witnessing the return of the robot dance from Peter Crouch who had given the national side the lead on the half hour. Showing very little ambition and stretching five men across the midfield, leaving Andriy Voronin to labour alone upfront, Ukraine rarely ventured beyond the half way line and David James was troubled just the once when he was surprised by a awkward bounce following a long range effort from captain Anatoliy Tymoschuk.
England started brightly, Wayne Rooney had a overhead kick clear the bar and a Steven Gerrard free kick was narrowly wide before Peter Crouch broke the deadlock. Frank Lampard’s corner was headed back into the danger area by Terry and Crouch volleyed home from inside the six yard box.
Rooney had a further chance before the half time whistle when he shot over following a move that he began with a superb cross field pass to Aaron Lennon. Rooney, celebrating his 50th cap, was the centre of everything, demanding the ball, but looking frustrated when the long punts toward Crouch’s head lacked any quality or imagination.
Ukraine changed the totally ineffective Voronin for Andriy Shevchenko on 55 minutes and Fabio Capello immediately made a change of his own bringing on David Beckham for the disappointing Lennon. Beckham was instantly involved firing a free kick over the bar.
Ukraine raised their ambition levels with the introduction of Shevchenko and after their best period in the game, it was the ex-Chelsea striker who pounced on a loose ball to fire home the equaliser after a free kick fired from Aliyev rebounded off Glen Johnson.
England were now in danger of dropping points, or even worse losing a game, in which for such a long time they had been almost complacently comfortable. Shaun Wright-Phillips was introduced for Crouch, with no other fit striker available on the bench. The home side were now showing a greater urgency to retrieve the situation and this finally arrived with six minutes remaining. The dead ball accuracy of Beckham saw his free kick headed back across the face of the goal by Gerrard and hooked home by John Terry.
This was not one of England’s better performances under Capello, a comfortable position was turned on its head, but they finally came through and with games against the group’s minnows, Kazakhstan and Andorra next up, the perfect record should be stretched to seven in June. By the time our old friends Croatia come calling in September our passports will, hopefully, be well and truly stamped.
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