England

4-0

Greece

Terry 14, Lampard 30,
Crouch 36, 42

 

 

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

Steven Gerrard was pleased with England's performance against Greece on Wednesday night and says Steve McClaren's game plan worked a treat.

The Liverpool midfielder was operating on the right, as he does regularly for the Reds, and with more freedom than he usual has had in an England shirt the vice-captain was able to cause problems all over the pitch.

"The manager said he wanted a winning mentality and for us to be hard to beat," revealed Gerrard shortly after the 4-0 win. "I think the manager had the right balance tonight. I certainly enjoyed the game, was able to get forward and that is what I've done.

"I think we created chances all night and it could have been a few more. We were superb first half and Crouchie was excellent."

Gerrard also had praise for the new skipper John Terry, who got McClaren's reign as Head Coach off to the perfect start with a goal after 14 minutes, as England humbled the current European Champions.

"John Terry is a fantastic leader and is a great guy off the pitch as well as being a great leader on it - the manager has made the right decision. I am always there for him if he wants to bounce ideas off me."

He added: "I think we deserve credit for making the Greek team look poor. They are a good team and we have set the standards tonight that we need to maintain."

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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