England beat Switzerland in Euro 2012 qualifier
England completed a comfortable 3-1 win in their 2nd Euro qualifier against Switzerland at Basel. Wayne Rooney was on target in the first half and later Adam Johnson and Darren Bent completed the scoring. The home side were reduced to 10 men in the end but they did get a consolation goal.
England were the dominant team right from the start and put the home team under pressure. Wayne Rooney who had been the man under the scanner following the controversy about his personal life looked like a man on a mission. The Manchester United man looked lively and was at the right place at the right time to score the first goal.
The only downside to England’s performance in the first half was an injury to Theo Walcott. The Arsenal winger had to be taken off and Manchester City’s Adam Johnson replaced him in the first half.
The first 45 minutes ended with England in complete control at 1-0.
The 2nd half started with the home side making a change; Xherdan Shaqiri came on for Xavier Margairaz.
England started the second half where they left off in the first. Wayne Rooney crossed for Adam Johnson, who volleyed wide at the far post.
Gokhan Inler tried his luck from long range for Switzerland but his shot was a long way over. England still looked pretty comfortable but they needed to start taking their chances to give themselves some breathing space.
The impressive Glen Johnson, who set up Wayne Rooney's goal, almost found the net himself. His low shot from the right was fumbled by Diego Benaglio, who got enough on the ball to turn it round the post.
Moments later James Milner brought down Stephan Lichtsteiner as the Swiss broke forward from the ensuing corner. Subsequently, the Manchester City man got himself booked and will miss England's next game.
Alex Frei dribbled into the penalty area and England struggled to clear the ball, however they did hack it away in the end, but that was their first really nervous moment of the game.
The home side were enjoying their best spell of the game, but they appeared to have shot themselves in the foot. Stephan Lichtsteiner, who was just booked for dissent, got a second yellow and an early bath for scything down James Milner on the left-flank.
5 minutes later another rash challenge from the home side saw Jermain Defore on the floor and apparently in need of attention. England played on and Steven Gerrard released Adam Johnson with a delightful pass. Johnson took the ball around the keeper and slotted home to make it 2-0.
It looked all but over; Shaun Wright-Phillips replaced goalscorer Wayne Rooney, which meant England now had six Manchester City players on the pitch.
England could have also been cut down to 10 men when, Ashley Cole after being booked earlier on for a wild tackle could easily just have been shown a second yellow as he kicked the ball away following a Switzerland free-kick.
With just a minute or so of the 90 minutes left, Darren Bent got the ball in the area and took a touch before hammering a low shot past the helpless Diego Benaglio. Eventually, 3-1 is how it ended and Capello’s men have have managed to score 7 goals so far in the European campaign.
England manager, Fabio Capello after the match showed said “I think we played well in the first half. It was fantastic football. It was important to win and I was really happy with the first half. In the second half we played too slow and ball possession was too slow. Rooney scored a goal and it is important for him and us. Tactically, he did some things really well. He played well. He was always the centre of the play and movement. I think the pressure was really on him but he played really well”.
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