England

4-0

Greece

Terry 14, Lampard 30, Crouch 36, 42

 

 

International Friendly
8.05pm, Wednesday 16 August 2006
Old Trafford, Manchester

England ushered in the McClaren era with a fine victory over Greece which was kicked off with a goal from his new captain John Terry.

All the goals were scored in a sweeping first half performance that took the Three Lions into an impressive four-goal lead at the interval.

Peter Crouch took his tally for England to eight goals in 12 matches, while Frank Lampard scored a brilliant goal following link up play with Jermain Defoe.

John Terry capped his first match as skipper with a headed goal on 15 minutes, it resulted from a Lampard free-kick that Greece failed to deal with and it left the Chelsea defender delighted.

Stewart Downing headed the ball back into the danger area and Terry pounced to send the Three Lions into an early lead.

Crouch almost doubled the lead 60 seconds later with a close range header from a Gerrard cross but it went just past the post.

Owen Hargreaves continued his combative form in midfield with some well-judges interceptions and was a constant thorn in the side of Zagorakis and Karagkounis.

Frank Lampard scored England's second goal from a fine move involving some neat play from Jermain Defoe.

Grabbing his 12th goal for his country, Lampard linked up well with Defoe beforing lifting the ball over Nikopolidis.

Peter Crouch then profited from Lampard's misfortune as he followed up on a rebound from the keeper to make it 3-0 England.

Six minutes later it was four as Gerrard's surging run gave the impetus for another flowing move that Greece were unable to deal with.

Stewart Downing provided the cross and Crouch's downward header bounced once before bursting the net.

It was a sensational first half performance from Steve McClaren's side, with players finding their feet in the positions they ply their trade for their clubs.

As Greece made several changes at half-time they came out with a fresh iniative and found themselves in much more advanced positions than before the interval.

First John Terry was called into action with a diving block, before a frantic period where England rode their luck. 

Chris Kirkland, making his England debut, made a fingertip save from close range and from the resulting corner Ashley Cole made two unbelievable blocks on the line to deny Greece an early second half goal.

With just seven minutes remaining Chris Kirkland was called into action again and produced a superb stop from a powerful Karagkounis shot that looked destined for the corner of the goal.

England
Robinson (Kirkland 45), Gary Neville (Carragher 78), Ferdinand, Terry, Cole (Bridge 80), Gerrard (Bent 78), Lampard, Hargreaves, Downing (Lennon 69), Defoe (Richardson 69), Crouch.
Subs Not Used: Young, Phil Neville, Brown, Dawson, Jenas, Wright-Phillips, Foster.

Greece
Nikopolidis, Fyssas (Lagos 29), Dellas (Anatolakis 64), Katsouranis, Antzas (Kyrgiakos 45), Vyntra, Zagorakis (Basinas 45), Karagounis, Giannakopoulos (Salpigidis 45), Samaras (Amanatidis 45), Charisteas.
Subs Not Used: Chalkias, Kafes, Gekas, Papadopoulos, Georgeas.

Referee: Wolfgang Stark (Germany)

Assistants: Harry Ehing and Carsten Kadach (Germany)

Fourth Official: Phil Dowd (England)

Attendance: 45, 864

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