England 2 - Cameroon 2
Vassell 11, Fowler 90 Eto'o 4, Geremi 56 


 

International Friendly Match Sunday 26th May,
3pm Kick Off (7am BST)
Kobe, Japan

Fowler's astute 90th minute header avoided defeat on a day when steering clear of injuries was just as important at the result itself.

The day started in encouraging fashion for England when, in front of thousands of adoring fans, David Beckham enjoyed a warm up with phsyio Alan Smith which saw the England skipper kicking the ball with both feet in public for the first time since his untimely injury against Deportivo La Coruna.

Furthermore, the sight of Kieron Dyer sprinting up and down the pitch with the ball at his feet before the game can only have heartened Sven-Goran Eriksson as the England coach finalises his preparations for the match with Sweden on June 2.

The match, on the other hand, did not start quite so well for the Three Lions. After Joe Cole had shown early promise for England, it was Cameroon who opened the scoring after only 5 minutes.

Wome's cross-shot from the left bemused the England defence who could only stand and watch as it rebounded off the post into the path of Real Mallorca striker Samuel Eto'o who made no mistake in thrashing the ball past Martyn.

To their credit, England responded to the early set-back in impressive style with Scholes beginning to direct play from the centre of the field. Indeed it was the Manchester United schemer who inspired the equaliser on 12 minutes.

Having exchanged passes with Owen, Scholes produced an inch perfect through ball to pick out Vassell's storming run through the middle.

Rio Ferdinand had commented earlier in the week that Vassell's pace is enough "to frighten the life out defences" and the Villa man tore his way through the Cameroon defence before drilling the ball home off the post for his third strike in only four internationals.

The played in front of a crowd surprisingly muted after a tumultuous pre-match atmosphere, the game continued to entertain with both sides playing free-flowing attacking football.

England had a Michael Owen goal mysteriously ruled out presumably for off-side before Mboma produced an excellent header only to direct it straight at Nigel Martyn.

Cameroon posed a completely different set of problems for Sven's men to content with and a succession of perfectly struck cross field balls did unsettle England at times.

With a match against Nigeria loomng on the horizon, this meeting with the African Champions could well prove to be a more than worthwhile exercise.

Playing against established international stars such as Rigobert Song, Lauren, Marc-Vivien Foe, and Geremi, England's best performers in the first half were once again those young lions with the most to prove.

Clearly no one told Owen Hargreaves that this was a friendly. The Bayern Munich youngster did the running of three men in the midfield, snapping at the heels of the opposition to win back possession before playing the simple pass to a colleague. Wayne Bridge looked entirely assured at left back and showed excellent pace and crossing ability when coming forward. The Southampton looks such a comfortable performer at this level, Sven will be tempted to retain his services ahead of Ashley Cole for the Sweden game.

Others too were given the chance to impress for the last time ahead of big kick-off. David James, Martin Keown, Danny Mills, Trevor Sinclair, and Teddy Sheringham were all second half introductions along with Gareth Southgate who captained the side again after taking the armband when he came on against Korea.

However, it was Cameroon who again made the impact after the restart. After Southgate had handled the ball just outside the area, Geremi stepped up to bend an unstoppable free-kick past David James on 57 minutes.

The West Ham 'keeper, who is such an positive influence around the England camp, stood no chance of keeping out an effort from the Real Madrid star.

England were inches away from an equaliser on 74 minutes when Teddy Sheringham produced a trademark near post header from an Owen Hargreaves corner. The ball looked destined to be a repeat of Teddy's famous last England strike (against Greece) until Alioum produced a last-ditch save to keep the effort out.

Then, on 78 minutes, Teddy again came agonisingly close to snatching an equaliser when he got on the end of Sinclair's inch-perfect centre only to see the ball drift inches wide of the far post.

On 90 minutes Sheringham found more success when he took on the role of provider. His looping headed pass found Fowler lurking in a yard of space on the right hand edge of the area and the Leeds striker celebrated his return to fitness with an immaculately executed header into the far corner.

The positives for England were the performances of Bridge, Hargreaves, Vassell and the sharpness shown by substitutes Sheringham, Sinclair and Fowler. Better news still was that no new injuries were suffered on the day.

However,if we are to pose a real threat to the world's finest footballing nations, we will need to find a little more inspiration and imagination than we produced on this occasion.

"We want Beckham, we want Beckham" was the chant which rang around the ground as the game drew to a close. From a distance, it was just possible to see Sven nodding his head in agreement.

From Daniel Freedman in Kobe

Teams:

England: Martyn (James, 45), Brown, Campbell (Southgate, 45), Ferdinand (Keown, 45), Bridge, Cole, Scholes (Sinclair, 45), Hargreaves, Heskey (Mills, 45), Vassell (Fowler, 75), Owen (Sheringham, 45).
Subs: James, Fowler, Keown, Mills, Sheringham, Sinclair, Southgate.

Cameroon: Alioum, Song, Kalla, Tchato, Geremi, Wome, Lauren, Foe, Olembe, Eto'o, Mboma.
Subs: Alnoudji, Djemba-Djemba, Epalle, Job, Kameni, Kome, Mettomo, N'Diefi, N'kom, Ndo, Njanka, Songo'o, Suffo.