Euro 2012: England v Montenegro full time report
England 0 Montenegro 0
A disappointing England were booed off after they couldn’t break down Montenegro at Wembley, as the visitors stayed top of Euro 2012 qualifying Group G.
The hosts were lacklustre in the first half, although Peter Crouch did come close to getting on the end of Steven Gerrard’s early pass, before the forward headed Glen Johnson’s cross over the bar.
Adam Johnson’s free kick went wide, while the disappointing Wayne Rooney saw a shot saved, as did Gareth Barry.
Montenegrin defender Milan Jovanović was lucky to escape a handball appeal in the penalty area, before his dipping effort smashed against the England crossbar late on.
This result will be a disappointment to Fabio Capello, but means that Montenegro top the group with 10 points for four games, and they have yet to concede a goal.
England were taking on the only team above them in the group, and knew that a good result would put them top heading into Euro 2012’s “winter break.” The Montenegrins, missing star forward Mirko Vucinic of Roma, were considered to be there for the taking, but England found them hard to break down.
Ashley Young impressed for the hosts in the opening stages, but the hosts struggled to create chances, although Crouch was close to connecting with a clever Gerrard pass early on, before Crouch headed over from Glen Johnson’s cross, and Adam Johnson curled a free kick narrowly wide.
Gerrard apart, England’s midfield were struggling to create anything – with Gareth Barry particularly wasteful – and while the visitors didn’t look too threatening, the Wembley crowd grew frustrated by the lack of the home side’s progress, with pockets of the crowd booing them off at half time.
With Rooney looking a shadow of his former self, England’s invention was only really coming from Gerrard at the start of the second period, and the former skipper’s ball soon found Rooney, who drew a good save from goalkeeper Mladen Bozovic, who then gobbled up Crouch’s rebound.
England were playing poorly, but they were almost indebted to defender Jovanović – a different player to his namesake who plays for Liverpool – who clearly handled an Ashley Cole cross in the penalty area with around a quarter of an hour remaining.
The defender was almost to have an even greater impact on the game though, as his superb dipping volley smashed back off Joe Hart’s crossbar with the England ‘keeper well beaten.
Capello had already turned to Bolton forward Kevin Davies by this period, making him
England’s oldest debutant since 1950, but despite the 33-year-old winning several headers in an attempt to link up with the disappointing Rooney, he was soon to have an even more predictable impact, and picked up a booking for backing into Miodrag Dzudovic.
In the closing stages, Davies knocked down for Gareth Barry to shoot at Bozovic, but England were severely lacking in any real quality, and the match petered out into a goalless draw.
Not a catastrophic result for the Three Lions by any means, but hardly the ideal way to finish a disappointing year.
http://www.senore.com/Handball-He-might-as-well-have-caught-it-a33465http://www.senore.com/Euro-2012-Scotland-fall-short-against-Spain-a33457
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