Barry hails strength in depth
Thursday, 15 October, 2009
Gareth Barry believes victory on Wednesday shows England's strength in depth.
Stuart Mawhinney
The Manchester City midfielder admitted that with a few big names not involved, England's final group six encounter was the perfect opportunity to test some of the less experienced players, and they came through it.
Ben Foster earned his third cap, keeping a clean sheet in the process, while the likes of Gabriel Agbonlahor and Shaun Wright-Phillips had a chance to prove their worth in front of nearly 80,000 England fans.
Speaking exclusively to TheFA.com, Barry said: "There were some big names missing in Wayne and Steve, so the Manager had a chance to have a look at it and the players had a chance to perform so all in all it was a great performance and everyone in the changing room is happy."
Speaking ahead of the game, Barry had made it clear that the England players were determined to sign off with victory and that is exactly what they did.
Goals from Peter Crouch and Shaun Wright-Phillips secured a 3-0 victory in the final game of England's World Cup qualifiers and after the defeat in Ukraine at the weekend, the Manchester City man felt it was more important to win this game.
"We're obviously delighted to sign off the qualification with a win," he said.
"That was the main objective, to put in a good performance. We found it quite tough to break them down in the first half, but in the second half we pressed them quite hard and we could have had four or five in the end."
After the game, the majority of the players who have been involved in the qualifying campaign over Capello's reign to date were invited to the dressing room and Barry revealed there was a decent atmosphere.
"It was a nice touch by the Manager to invite everyone into the changing room after the game," he explained. "He said a few nice words and thank-yous."
Watch the full interview with Gareth now, by clicking on the play icon in the top right of your screen.
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