Euro 2012: England v Bulgaira - full-time report
England 4 Bulgaria 0
England kick-started their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign with a solid performance to see off a spirited Bulgaria. A hat-trick from Jermain Defoe and a late strike from Adam Johnson was enough to send a rejuvenated Wembley crowd home happy.
It wasn’t the most memorable performance ever produced by the Three Lions at Wembley but it was a vast improvement on their woeful showing in the World Cup, which suggests qualification from this relatively easy group should be a formality.
The only goal of the first half came early on as Wayne Rooney released Ashley Cole down the left flank who found space to fire a shot which was palmed away by the keeper, but luckily for the home side Defoe was lurking to gobble up the rebound with a ferocious close range finish.
England continued to press for the remainder of the half without looking that dangerous. Theo Walcott was a constant outlet from the right wing but his strikers could not convert a handful of threatening crosses that the speedy winger provided.
Bulgaria probably had the best chance of the half as Bolton’s Martin Petrov broke down the right before delivering a cross that was nearly turned into his own net by Glen Johnson, luckily for him the alert Joe Hart was there to smother the ball.
The second half failed to spark into life until Michael Dawson was taken off with a serious looking knee injury, the Wembley pitch once again will be called into question as Dawson’s studs were caught in the ground as his knee twisted violently.
The second goal came 14 seconds after Bulgaria had their best chance of the game, Stanislav Angelov had a shot palmed away by Hart when he should have scored, and England broke quickly through Rooney, who released Defoe, who slotted the ball through the keepers’ legs.
It was three with six minutes remaining as the lively substitute Johnson notched his first international goal. Picking the ball up on the edge of the area he shifted the ball onto his left and drilled a tame shot past the flimsy leg of the Bulgarian number one.
There was time for one more as England started to pick off a tiring Bulgaria at will, Rooney once again fed Defoe who skilfully smashed in his hat-trick, the first since Walcott’s against Croatia, two years ago.
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