Rooney silences the boos

Published : Oct 18, 2008 00:00 IST

England finished on the right end of a convincing scoreline, thanks in no small part to the fact that Kazakhstan completely ran out of puff as the game reached its latter stages. Amy Lawrence reports.

With 20 minutes to go and England leading the enterprising opponents from Kazakhstan by a wafer-thin 2-1 margin, there was a shocking moment when the team ranked 131st in the world looked on course to dismantle all the jubilation that Fabio Capello’s side brought home with them from Croatia last month.

Yet England finished on the right end of a convincing scoreline, thanks in no small part to the fact that the visitors completely ran out of puff as the game reached its latter stages. Suddenly they were ripe for picking off, and Wayne Rooney and Jermain Defoe guaranteed there could be no reproach. Five goals, and an even stronger control of Group Six after Croatia drew 0-0 with Ukraine — what more do they want?

There are still causes for concern, however. Until the late goalfest, the brave new world produced by Zagreb had descended into the same old shambles at Wembley, as England looked pedestrian, struggled for ideas and required the safety net of the set piece to make any kind of inroads at all.

So much for the new no-boo ambience here. It summed up a strange affair, where the mood was warm and cheerful at the beginning and end, but a few brickbats were thrown in between. The chief recipient was Ashley Cole, whose culpability for Kazakhstan’s goal was undeniable — even if Capello later expressed his discontent that the England fans could boo “Ashley Young”. “Anyone can make a mistake,” he said of the Ashleys. Indeed.

Fortunately any mistakes made on this occasion proved not particularly costly. But England’s capacity to disappoint remains a stubborn part of this team’s make-up. A forgettable first 45 minutes managed to deflate the early optimism and allow for some discontented jeers as the players walked off goalless at half-time. It was a timely reminder that a spectacular win in Croatia, in isolation, does not a revolution make.

Even though Capello trotted out the old cliches about it being difficult to break down small teams geared towards damage limitation, the words rang hollow. Kazakhstan’s players certainly did not, as caretaker coach Bernd Storck had warned against so vigorously, approach this fixture as a glamorous shirt-swapping exercise. They were not overly defensive, either, playing two up front and maintaining a decent shape. Kazakhstan also possessed the most exciting player on the pitch in debutant Tanat Nusserbayev, who outshone his fellow No. 7 Theo Walcott, even though England’s new wonderboy did offer some exciting glimmers.

Walcott tried to assert England’s cause with a twinkling dribble and curling shot early on that sailed a little high and wide. Long-range shots seemed to be the order of the day and Frank Lampard whacked a stanchion hard enough for one of the visiting journalists to shriek so zanily in the press box.

What noise she would have made two minutes into the second half had Kazakhstan gone ahead is anybody’s guess. But it was mighty close, as Wes Brown missed Sabrykhan Ibrayev’s cross and Sergey Ostapenko knocked the ball down for Nusserbayev, who had the goal at his mercy. To the Kazakhstan striker’s dismay, and England’s mighty relief, he slashed the chance over.

The scoreline was tilted almost immediately, as England profited from a corner. Lampard’s delivery was whipped into the heart of the penalty area, and with goalkeeper Alexandr Mokin stranded after he ran out to punch but never got near the ball, Rio Ferdinand nodded in.

He celebrated as a captain should, with fists pumped and a bloody good yell. Ferdinand knew how things were going and how critical it was for England not to go too far backwards so soon after the euphoria of Zagreb.

Kazakhstan showed the spirit to respond, as the effervescent Nusserbayev came close again with a fierce shot that David James in the England goal parried.

It took a while for the home side to settle into a more encouraging rhythm after Capello had introduced Shaun Wright-Phillips for Gareth Barry at half-time to switch to a more conventional 4-4-2 formation.

Like all his predecessors, Capello is finding it hard to accommodate Lampard and Steven Gerrard, but the Italian expressed himself satisfied with the way the midfield partnership improved. However, the problem has not disappeared yet, clearly. Just after the hour, England appeared to make the game safe courtesy of another set piece, as Alexandr Kuchma headed Lampard’s free-kick past Mokin under pressure from Rooney.

Game over? Not quite. Complacency reared its ugly head again for England as Cole’s excruciating back-pass landed perfectly for Zhambyl Kukeyev to steer confidently past James for his first ever international goal.

As Kazakhstan chased the equaliser, England picked their pockets at the back, with Walcott carving an opening for Rooney to head in, this time unmarked. The Manchester United forward slotted in his second four minutes from the end — surprise, surprise from another dead ball, this one manufactured by cameo substitute David Beckham.

Fellow sub Jermain Defoe gave the scoreline gloss in added time as the Kazakhs succumbed to cramp.

Although Capello criticised England’s fans for giving Cole such treatment, he did praise them for “being very strong for us” while England struggled to find their gear. There wasn’t a hint of a boo at full-time.

THE RESULTS

Belgium 2 (Sonck 22, Fellaini 38) bt Armenia 0. Half-time: 2-0; Bulgaria 0 drew with Italy 0; Denmark 3 (Larsen 9 & 47, Agger pen-31) bt Malta 0. Half-time: 2-0; England 5 (Ferdinand 52, Kuchma o.g. 65, Rooney 77 & 86, Defoe 90) bt Kazakhstan 1 (Kukeyev 68). Half-time: 0-0; Estonia 0 lost to Spain 3 (Juanito 34, Villa pen-38, Puyol 69). Half-time: 0-2; Faroe Islands 1 (Lokin 46) drew with Austria 1 (Stranzl 48). Half-time: 0-0; Finland 1 (Forssell pen-62) bt Azerbaijan 0. Half-time: 0-0; Georgia 1 (Kobiashvili 73) drew with Cyprus 1 (Konstantinou 66). Half-time: 0-0; Germany 2 (Podolski 9, Ballack 28) bt Russia 1 (Arshavin 51). Half-time: 2-0; Greece 3 (Charisteas 31 & 51, Katsouranis 40) bt Moldova 0. Half-time: 2-0; Netherlands 2 (Mathijsen 15, Huntelaar 65) bt Iceland 0. Half-time: 1-0; Hungary 2 (Torghelle 49, Juhasz 81) bt Albania 0. Half-time: 0-0; Luxembourg 1 (Peters 14) lost to Israel 3 (Benayoun pen-2, Golan 53, Toama 82). Half-time: 1-1; Poland 2 (Brozek 27, Blaszczykowski 53) bt Czech Republic 1 (Fenin 87). Half-time: 1-0; Romania 2 (Petre 6, Goian 17) drew with France 2 (Ribery 37, Gourcuff 69). Half-time: 2-1; San Marino 1 (Selva 45) lost to Slovakia 3 (Sestak 33, Kozak 38, Karhan 50). Half-time: 1-2; Scotland 0 drew with Norway 0; Serbia 3 (Ivanovic 6, Krasic 34, Zigic 82) bt Lithuania 0. Half-time: 2-0; Slovenia 2 (Novakovic 84, Ljubijankic 85) bt Northern Ireland 0. Half-time: 0-0; Sweden 0 drew with Portugal 0; Switzerland 2 (Frei 63, Nkufo 72) bt Latvia 1 (Ivanovs 71). Half-time: 0-0; Turkey 2 (Dzeko o.g. 51, Erdinc 66) bt Bosnia-Hercegovina 1 (Dzeko 27). Half-time: 0-1; Ukraine 0 drew with Croatia 0; Wales 2 (Edwards 42, Evans 80) bt Liechtenstein 0. Half-time: 1-0.

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