World Cup Qualifying Group Six
England (3) 6 Rooney 4, 39 Lampard 29 Defoe 73, 76 Crouch 81
Andorra (0) 0
Att. 57,897
Entrance: £24
Programme: £6
Mileage: 100/8,943
Match Report
The stadium announcer unusually made the announcement of the attendance during play and made reference to the FA’s thanks that 57,897 had made it to Wembley despite the best attempts of Bob Crowe and the RMT tube strike. This was a fantastic effort by England supporters especially given the offer of refunded money on tickets for people that were unable to travel.On the pitch the fans were rewarded with a easy victory over the Group Six minnows from the Pyrenees. England now stand on the threshold of World Cup qualification, one more victory from their final three games would suffice, but there is even a possibility that they will be South Africa-bound before their next game against Croatia.
Previous fixtures against the tough, and frequently foul, tackling Andorrans has seen England struggling to break down a 10 man defensive formation that sees the furthest player no higher up the pitch than his own 18 yard box. This time around England started like a runaway train so lacking on the Bakerloo line, an early Rooney chance had been saved by the retiring Andorran keeper Koldo Alvarez before the Manchester United striker headed home a Glen Johnson cross to open the scoring.
Johnson went on to earn the man of the match award for a fine attacking display which included laying on four of the goals. The best part of 25 minutes elapsed before Robert Green had a first touch of the ball and only had a further five touches in the 90 minutes. All the while, David Beckham strode around the midfield with a majesty reserved for a sovereign king. Hollywood passes were sprayed forty and fifty yards, left and right, with unerring accuracy, in all over a ton of passes were made accurately. Beckham will never enjoy an easier quarterback role with acres of space in which to perform, but it did make admirable viewing.
Frank Lampard added a second, the best goal of the night, following a Theo Walcott cross in a move begun by Johnson and when Rooney volleyed a third from another Johnson cross the only bets were on how many England would score.
Fabio Capello sent Rooney and Steven Gerrard on their holidays replacing them with Jermaine Defoe and Ashley Young. Defoe cashed in with a couple of goals and Peter Crouch benefited from comedy defending to run in a sixth, much to the humour of all around, none more so than Fabio himself.
So my season that had started on 12 July 2008 at Bly Spartans finally came to a close 11 months later with the national side all but secure in World Cup Qualification to add to Gillingham’s promotion. It’s been a good one.
The tube strike meant a first-ever drive to Wembley and for us it worked out fine. A free parking space was found on Hanger Lane and the walk of a little over a mile took us past a biker’s café called Ace, where the food was enjoyed much more than the plastic fare on offer at the Stadium.
So season two of the blog comes to an end, only four weeks to pre-season three!
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