I actually wanted to put something back in the room where I share with my two siblings just seconds after the Kazakhstan-England match began yesterday and almost immediately, I encountered a false alarm. It came from the television.
I was referring to what happened in the opening seconds where Zhambyl Kukeyev clipped the ball away from the Portsmouth's Glen Johnson and sent in a low cross that Sergey Ostapenko, who had got in front of both England centrebacks, should have buried at the near post. But then, the ball bounced goalwards off Matthew Upson's shins and Robert Green, making his first international start thanks to David James's decision to undergo shoulder surgery, was forced to make an important block before John Terry hooked the ball to safety.
Well, it was 4-0 to England in the end. From a stuttering start to a stroll. First-half goals from Gareth Barry and Emile Heskey, Wayne Rooney's eighth in his last six internationals and a Frank Lampard penalty ensured Fabio Capello's squad avoided the pitfalls involved in their trip to central Asia and made it six wins out of six in group six. Like it has been the case in regards to how England has been under Capello (alright, except the time when England was playing Ukraine at Wembley where it was real nervy at times). But then, the Italian had already warned before the match that he would not accept the draining effects of an eight-hour flight and a five-hour time difference as excuses for anything less than a totally focused performance.
But that was not the only scare I had when watching the match. In the 17th minute, Sergey Ostapenko headed in Zhambyl Kukeyev's free kick at the back post. The linesman ruled out for offside. The breakthrough only really came about close to the half-hour mark when Emile Heskey striking the inside of the post after capitalising on a misplaced clearance from goalkeeper Alexandr Mokin's misplaced clearance. The visitors then seized control with two goals in the space of five minutes at the end of the opening period. The first of the two came from a corner on the left that was played short by Frank Lampard to Steven Gerrard. He turned the fullback all too easily and sent over a left-foot cross that Manchester City-bound Gareth Barry, unchallenged beyond the back post, was able to steer back across Alexandr Mokin into the net. Gerrard was also the instigator of the second with his cross taking a deflection over the head of Mokin, who, scrambling backwards, was only able to palm the ball towards Heskey, who hooked in a first-time finish from close range.
A better improvement than it was at the last time England hosted Kazakhstan given it was only in the second-half at the Wembley where the floodgates opened. Anyhow in the second-half at Almaty, Theo Walcott came on for Shaun Wright-Phillips and he start the move that led to England's third goal by sending Johnson on a 73rd-minute overlap down the right side of the box. The defender's cross was deflected goalwards off Rooney's knee, forcing Mokin into a superb save, but the goalkeeper's impressive effort proved in vain. Rooney was first to the loose ball and swivelled acrobatically to hook it back into the net. Five minutes later, Lampard added the fourth with an emphatic spot-kick after Heskey, straining to reach the rebound from Ashley Cole's well-saved effort, was pulled to the ground by Renat Abdulin.
For Fabio Capello after the match, he had paid tribute to his England players for the way in which they put a stuttering start behind them. It is now six out of six wins in England's World Cup qualifying campaign so far. On the match at Almaty, Capello was alarmed by the extent to which the Kazakhs had unsettled his side in the opening half hour, with striker Sergey Ostapenko wasting one clear chance and then having a second effort chalked off for offside. Eventually, the Italian declared himself satisfied with the way they killed off the match with goals from Gareth Barry and Emile Heskey in the closing minutes of the first half before Wayne Rooney's eighth in his last six internationals and a late Frank Lampard penalty earned the resulting scoreline. On the first half-hour, "I was disappointed with the position on the pitch of some players. But in the end I'm very happy. We knew they would press us at the start and we were prepared for it. Against a team not at your level it is always important to score the first goal and then their level goes down. They scored a goal that was offside but there were no other problems for our goalkeeper and that was very important." In fact, when being asked what would had happened had the goal stood, Capello replied that it would had been 4-1 to his side.
The sight of Shaun-Wright Phillips on for the ineffective Theo Walcott at the start of the second-half was due to, according to Fabio Capello - a tactical rather than an injury-forced change. But then while it was widely acknowledged that Walcott had a poor game, he had only recently came back from a long lay-off. Other than that, Capello will have to make some changes on Wednesday as Gareth Barry, who picked up a booking, will be suspended, which could mean David Beckham winning his 112th cap in a rare starting role. But then at least Barry compensated by scoring one of the four goals and after the match, Capello even managed to joke about Barry's suspension. On the serious side of things, the Manchester City-bound England international had played for each match since the Italian took charge. So it is a bitter irony.
On the positive side of things, it is now six of six wins with 18 points in the bag. After Croatia and Ukraine both played out to a 2-2 draw, now England are seven points clear in their qualifying group. For England coach Fabio Capello (his comments came before the 2-2 draw between Croatia and Ukraine) on the qualifier on Wednesday at the Wembley, "A win against Andorra would be another big step forward. If we win we will have 21 points and it's a lot."
As for captain John Terry, the best is yet to come. He said, "I can assure you have not seen anything yet, there is far more to come from this team. We are really relishing these games. There is a confidence about the side, a confidence that we are looking to maintain." Most importantly, Terry believes the English public are finally back on board after a strained relationship with their national team during the ill-fated reign of Steve McClaren. Terry pointed out, "There were times when people were on our back a little bit and we took a lot of criticism, but we have ridden that out now and the fans are showing the appreciation of the football we are playing." Well, judging by Fabio Capello's angry demeanour for much of the first-half, he is a far harder taskmaster and England's millionaire players seem to like his style. The England captain said, "The boss has stressed the importance of maintaining the high standard that we have set. We are working extremely hard, but we are not there yet. We're in a good position, but taking nothing for granted. We've got Andorra at home, and they can sit back and make it difficult. If we can get the seventh win out of seven, it will be fantastic."
Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard, who set up the first two goals in Almaty, said there is no danger of England getting complacent with qualification not yet sealed. Gerrard who is also the captain of his club spoke on the FA website, "What we are all conscious about is qualifying for the World Cup. Missing out on the European championship was a massive blow. It took the players a long time to get over it. What we need to do is pay the fans back and qualify for the World Cup." Word.
Well, at a time when the world of tennis is griped by the possible fact that the Swiss ace Roger Federer could be on the verge of history at the French Open (the men singles' final is still going on) and ironically he is facing the man who sent Rafael Nadal packing in the earlier stages in Robin Soderling (considering Nadal has always been Federer's main stumbling block in winning the only tennis grand slam which has always eluded him)...in the fact in the build-up to the qualifier at Almaty, England coach Fabio Capello was actually being drawn into comparisons between football and tennis. The Italian's verdict? England are fashioned in the mould of Rafael Nadal as opposed to Roger Federer. Anyone who knows a thing or two about tennis will know what the Italian was referring to. He was actually referring to the playing styles of Nadal and Federer and which style the England squad comes under.
As someone who does watches tennis apart from football with the French Open (or the Roland Garros had been the name used) has been a welcome relief since the club footballing season ended, I almost chuckled when reading what the England coach said. Just one of those interesting anecdotes before the eventual 4-0 win against Kazakhstan at Almaty. Andorra's next...at the Wembley.
I was referring to what happened in the opening seconds where Zhambyl Kukeyev clipped the ball away from the Portsmouth's Glen Johnson and sent in a low cross that Sergey Ostapenko, who had got in front of both England centrebacks, should have buried at the near post. But then, the ball bounced goalwards off Matthew Upson's shins and Robert Green, making his first international start thanks to David James's decision to undergo shoulder surgery, was forced to make an important block before John Terry hooked the ball to safety.
Well, it was 4-0 to England in the end. From a stuttering start to a stroll. First-half goals from Gareth Barry and Emile Heskey, Wayne Rooney's eighth in his last six internationals and a Frank Lampard penalty ensured Fabio Capello's squad avoided the pitfalls involved in their trip to central Asia and made it six wins out of six in group six. Like it has been the case in regards to how England has been under Capello (alright, except the time when England was playing Ukraine at Wembley where it was real nervy at times). But then, the Italian had already warned before the match that he would not accept the draining effects of an eight-hour flight and a five-hour time difference as excuses for anything less than a totally focused performance.
But that was not the only scare I had when watching the match. In the 17th minute, Sergey Ostapenko headed in Zhambyl Kukeyev's free kick at the back post. The linesman ruled out for offside. The breakthrough only really came about close to the half-hour mark when Emile Heskey striking the inside of the post after capitalising on a misplaced clearance from goalkeeper Alexandr Mokin's misplaced clearance. The visitors then seized control with two goals in the space of five minutes at the end of the opening period. The first of the two came from a corner on the left that was played short by Frank Lampard to Steven Gerrard. He turned the fullback all too easily and sent over a left-foot cross that Manchester City-bound Gareth Barry, unchallenged beyond the back post, was able to steer back across Alexandr Mokin into the net. Gerrard was also the instigator of the second with his cross taking a deflection over the head of Mokin, who, scrambling backwards, was only able to palm the ball towards Heskey, who hooked in a first-time finish from close range.
A better improvement than it was at the last time England hosted Kazakhstan given it was only in the second-half at the Wembley where the floodgates opened. Anyhow in the second-half at Almaty, Theo Walcott came on for Shaun Wright-Phillips and he start the move that led to England's third goal by sending Johnson on a 73rd-minute overlap down the right side of the box. The defender's cross was deflected goalwards off Rooney's knee, forcing Mokin into a superb save, but the goalkeeper's impressive effort proved in vain. Rooney was first to the loose ball and swivelled acrobatically to hook it back into the net. Five minutes later, Lampard added the fourth with an emphatic spot-kick after Heskey, straining to reach the rebound from Ashley Cole's well-saved effort, was pulled to the ground by Renat Abdulin.
For Fabio Capello after the match, he had paid tribute to his England players for the way in which they put a stuttering start behind them. It is now six out of six wins in England's World Cup qualifying campaign so far. On the match at Almaty, Capello was alarmed by the extent to which the Kazakhs had unsettled his side in the opening half hour, with striker Sergey Ostapenko wasting one clear chance and then having a second effort chalked off for offside. Eventually, the Italian declared himself satisfied with the way they killed off the match with goals from Gareth Barry and Emile Heskey in the closing minutes of the first half before Wayne Rooney's eighth in his last six internationals and a late Frank Lampard penalty earned the resulting scoreline. On the first half-hour, "I was disappointed with the position on the pitch of some players. But in the end I'm very happy. We knew they would press us at the start and we were prepared for it. Against a team not at your level it is always important to score the first goal and then their level goes down. They scored a goal that was offside but there were no other problems for our goalkeeper and that was very important." In fact, when being asked what would had happened had the goal stood, Capello replied that it would had been 4-1 to his side.
The sight of Shaun-Wright Phillips on for the ineffective Theo Walcott at the start of the second-half was due to, according to Fabio Capello - a tactical rather than an injury-forced change. But then while it was widely acknowledged that Walcott had a poor game, he had only recently came back from a long lay-off. Other than that, Capello will have to make some changes on Wednesday as Gareth Barry, who picked up a booking, will be suspended, which could mean David Beckham winning his 112th cap in a rare starting role. But then at least Barry compensated by scoring one of the four goals and after the match, Capello even managed to joke about Barry's suspension. On the serious side of things, the Manchester City-bound England international had played for each match since the Italian took charge. So it is a bitter irony.
On the positive side of things, it is now six of six wins with 18 points in the bag. After Croatia and Ukraine both played out to a 2-2 draw, now England are seven points clear in their qualifying group. For England coach Fabio Capello (his comments came before the 2-2 draw between Croatia and Ukraine) on the qualifier on Wednesday at the Wembley, "A win against Andorra would be another big step forward. If we win we will have 21 points and it's a lot."
As for captain John Terry, the best is yet to come. He said, "I can assure you have not seen anything yet, there is far more to come from this team. We are really relishing these games. There is a confidence about the side, a confidence that we are looking to maintain." Most importantly, Terry believes the English public are finally back on board after a strained relationship with their national team during the ill-fated reign of Steve McClaren. Terry pointed out, "There were times when people were on our back a little bit and we took a lot of criticism, but we have ridden that out now and the fans are showing the appreciation of the football we are playing." Well, judging by Fabio Capello's angry demeanour for much of the first-half, he is a far harder taskmaster and England's millionaire players seem to like his style. The England captain said, "The boss has stressed the importance of maintaining the high standard that we have set. We are working extremely hard, but we are not there yet. We're in a good position, but taking nothing for granted. We've got Andorra at home, and they can sit back and make it difficult. If we can get the seventh win out of seven, it will be fantastic."
Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard, who set up the first two goals in Almaty, said there is no danger of England getting complacent with qualification not yet sealed. Gerrard who is also the captain of his club spoke on the FA website, "What we are all conscious about is qualifying for the World Cup. Missing out on the European championship was a massive blow. It took the players a long time to get over it. What we need to do is pay the fans back and qualify for the World Cup." Word.
Well, at a time when the world of tennis is griped by the possible fact that the Swiss ace Roger Federer could be on the verge of history at the French Open (the men singles' final is still going on) and ironically he is facing the man who sent Rafael Nadal packing in the earlier stages in Robin Soderling (considering Nadal has always been Federer's main stumbling block in winning the only tennis grand slam which has always eluded him)...in the fact in the build-up to the qualifier at Almaty, England coach Fabio Capello was actually being drawn into comparisons between football and tennis. The Italian's verdict? England are fashioned in the mould of Rafael Nadal as opposed to Roger Federer. Anyone who knows a thing or two about tennis will know what the Italian was referring to. He was actually referring to the playing styles of Nadal and Federer and which style the England squad comes under.
As someone who does watches tennis apart from football with the French Open (or the Roland Garros had been the name used) has been a welcome relief since the club footballing season ended, I almost chuckled when reading what the England coach said. Just one of those interesting anecdotes before the eventual 4-0 win against Kazakhstan at Almaty. Andorra's next...at the Wembley.
