Austria

0-1

England

 

 

Crouch 44

International Friendly
8pm, Friday 16 November 2007
Ernst Happel Stadion, Vienna



England striker Peter Crouch netted the only goal of the game to see the Three Lions pick up a victory over Austria ahead of next Wednesday’s crucial European Championship Qualifier with Croatia at Wembley.

It was Crouch’s 11th goal in 13 starts for England and arrived just before the half time break in Vienna, with the Liverpool hitman nodding home a David Beckham corner.

It could easily have been more too, with England creating numerous chances throughout the game before picking up a deserved victory which Crouch was pleased with.

“It’s always difficult to come away from home, wherever you go, but I thought we maybe should have made it a bit easier for ourselves in the second half but it’s still a good result,” admitted the 26-year-old.

“The main objective for us is Wednesday now and we have to get a result there and hope for a result on Saturday.

“Today was about a run-out though and it was a good result for us.”

However, England were hit in the first half as Crouch’s strike partner Michael Owen was taken off with a thigh injury which is likely to rule him out of the game with Croatia.

With Crouch’s formidable international scoring record though, the former Southampton and Queens Park Rangers man is hoping to keep it going against Slaven Bilic's team.

“I’m really proud of my record to be honest and I hope to keep it going,” he admitted.

“Of course I could’ve had more tonight, Ashley Young came on and put a great ball in, from which I should’ve scored.

“In the first half we created a lot of chances and I should’ve scored a few more, but I feel confident that if I get a chance I can take it.”

Ahead of Wednesday’s game with Croatia, all eyes will now be on the crunch match between Israel and Russia in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening and Crouch is hoping for the right result there, but without losing focus on the Wembley date on Wednesday.

“It’s going to be difficult for us either way,” he admitted.

“But we’ve got a job to do and we need to hope that Israel get a result for us and that will make it a great atmosphere at Wembley.

“If not, we’ve got to be professional, do a job and get the right result.”

Teams:

Austria: 1 Jurgen Macho (21 Alex Manninger, 26), 14 Gyorgy Garics, 3 Martin Stanzl (16 Martin Hiden, 86 mins), 4 Franz Schiemer, 5 Ronald Gercaliu, 2 Joachim Standfest (17 Veli Kavlak, 78 mins), 6 Rene Aufhauser, 7 Yuksel Sariyar (20 Martin Harnik, 65 mins), 8 Markus Weissenberger (11 Roman Kiernast, 46 mins), 10 Andreas Ivanschitz (c), 9 Sanel Kuljic (18 Christoph Leitgeb, 46 mins).

Subs:  13 Johannes Ertl, 15 Christian Fuchs, 19 Jurgen Saumel, 22 Jurgen Patocka.

England: 1 Scott Carson, 2 Micah Richards, 3 Wayne Bridge, 4 Steven Gerrard (16 Gareth Barry 46), 5 Joleon Lescott, 6 Sol Campbell (15 Wes Brown 46), 7 David Beckham (18 David Bentley 62), 8 Frank Lampard, 9 Peter Crouch (21 Alan Smith 73), 10 Michael Owen (24 Jermain Defoe 34), 11 Joe Cole (20 Ashley Young 46).

Subs: 12 Ashley Cole, 13 David James, 14 Nicky Shorey, 17 Phil Neville, 19 Stewart Downing, 22 Paul Robinson, 23 Shaun Wright-Phillips.

Match Officials:

Referee: Nicolai Vollquartz (Denmark)

Assistant Referees: Bo Abildgaard, Torben Jensen (Both Denmark)

Fourth Official: Fritz Stuchlik (Austria)

Kit Colours:

Austria: Red shirts, white socks, red socks

England: White shirts, blue shorts, white socks