England 4 Bulgaria 0

Match 14/10/832 - Friday, 3rd September 2010 -
European Championship Qualifying Group G

England (1) 4 Defoe 3, 61, 86 A Johnson 83
Bulgaria (0) 0
Att. 73,246

Entrance: £45
Programme: £5
Mileage: 100/1686

Match Report

England found that the first step towards a place at Euro 2012 was a good deal easier than redeeming themselves in the eyes of the footballing public.

Bulgaria, expected to be one of the principle obstacles to qualification from Group G, were brushed aside in the same manner that had swept England through World Cup qualifying . . . and we all know what happened next.

With UEFA bowing ever deeper at the feet of the clubs, Wembley was treated to a Friday night fixture. I find it hard to believe that the “Wembley factor” continues to be the reason why, in spite of the terrible disappointment of South Africa, over 73,000 turned out for a full-priced match; there are no £15 tickets on offer for qualifying games.

In comparison to the friendly against Hungary the England support was mainly positive. There were a few boos when the team was announced but it was very low key and once Jermain Defoe had opened the scoring in the third minute, all thoughts of giving the World Cup players a hard time was banished.

England sported a new kit and the return to blue shorts gave them the look of England of old, and despite the threats of a brand new dawn with the likes of Wilshere and Gibbs debuting against Hungary, it was mostly the tried and tested that started with the injured John Terry and Frank Lampard being the high profile absentees.

Bulgaria, weakened by the international retirement of Dimitar Berbatov, who seemingly is rather sensitive to criticism from his compatriots, we really quite poor, but had they taken a couple of second half chances when England’s lead stood at Defoe’s opening goal the game may have taken a different course, that it didn’t was due to the fine goalkeeping of Joe Hart.

Wayne Rooney, who took some unfair abuse for a couple of misplaced passes, was outstanding and Steven Gerrard revelled in his role both as captain and a position in the centre of midfield. But it was Defoe, whose hat trick was the first at Wembley for England since 1999 who stole the headlines.

Rooney was involved in the set up for all four England goals; his pass to Ashley Cole allowed the full back to cross for Defoe to volley the first goal. The second came direct from Hart’s one-on-one save from Stanislav Angelov, 14 seconds later Defoe converted Rooney’s pass. Adam Johnson was the next to benefit from Rooney’s perception before Defoe accelerated onto another Rooney pass to rifle his hat trick goal past the despairing Bulgarian keeper. It was Defoe’s last action and Fabio Capello allowed him to receive the acclaim of the Wembley crowd on his substitution.

So another campaign is set to follow a similar pattern, we qualify with ease, the expectation rises and then . . .