England 3-0 Estonia
UEFA European Championship Qualifier
3pm, Saturday 13 October 2007
Wembley Stadium
Live on BBC1
England’s fine run of recent form continued at Wembley as the Three Lions brushed aside the challenge of Estonia to set themselves up nicely for the trip to Russia next week, with their fifth consecutive 3-0 victory in qualifying.
Three goals in the first half were enough to collect the points and move England level on points with Croatia at the top of Group E.
Strikes from Shaun Wright-Phillips, Wayne Rooney and an own goal from Estonian defender Taavi Rähn proved enough to win the game and Steve McClaren’s thoughts will now turn to Wednesday’s game in Moscow, having collected the three points from this encounter.
There were early fears for England in the match when Micah Richards received lengthy treatment following a clash of heads with Ragnar Klavan in the area after just four minutes, but the defender picked himself up to carry on and England duly set about their business.
The breakthrough was made after 10 minutes, when a flowing move on the right hand side led to Wright-Phillips trading passes with Richards and bursting into the box. He had a tight angle to contend with, but drilled a low shot past Mart Poom and into the far corner to give England an ideal start.
Rooney then saw an audacious chip from 25 yards come agonisingly close to making it 2-0, after collecting a pass from Steven Gerrard, but his effort was just too high with Poom well beaten and clutching at thin air.
Rooney didn’t have to wait too long for a goal though and he added England’s second in 32nd minute, striking a first time shot home with his left foot after a good run and cross from Joe Cole.
Moments later, England were gifted a third goal when Ashley Cole’s cross towards the box was diverted towards his own goal by Rähn and past Poom via the post.
Paul Robinson’s first real test of the afternoon came in the 40th minute, when Joel Lindpere’s shot from the edge of the box flew straight at him as the Estonians looked to claw their way back into the game.
The half time break saw McClaren introduce Joleon Lescott for his England debut, as he replaced Rio Ferdinand in the centre of defence and England were then forced into another substitution in the early stages of the second half, as Ashley Cole fell awkwardly in the area whilst trying to clear the ball and appeared to hurt his ankle.
The visitors enjoyed their best spell of a game with around 20 minutes remaining, but a combination of brave defending and alert goalkeeping from Robinson ensured any danger was kept at bay.
Klavin did have a good chance when the ball broke to him on the left hand side of the box after 79 minutes, but he blasted the ball well over the bar and into the crowd when he could have done better.
There was a change in formation for England too, with Frank Lampard completing his return from injury to replace Michael Owen for the final stages of the game.
It could have been four too, as a Rooney cross-field pass sent Gerrard and Joe Cole clear but a fine tackle from Enar Jääger saw Cole’s eventual shot blocked and the danger cleared.
England’s late flurry saw Cole again come close with a low show from the corner of the area which whistled narrowly wide of the target before Gerrard saw an effort blocked by Dmitri Kruglov as the game drifted into stoppage time and towards the final whistle, with three well earned points in the bag.
Team details:
England: 1 Paul Robinson, (Tottenham Hotspur), 2 Micah Richards, (Manchester City), 3 Ashley Cole, (Chelsea) (14 Phil Neville, (Everton) 50), 4 Steven Gerrard (c), (Liverpool), 5 Rio Ferdinand, (Manchester United) (12 Joleon Lescott, (Everton) 46), 6 Sol Campbell, (Portsmouth), 7 Gareth Barry, (Aston Villa), 8 Shaun Wright Phillips, (Chelsea), 9 Wayne Rooney, (Manchester United), 10 Michael Owen, (Newcastle United) (15 Frank Lampard, (Chelsea) 70), 11 Joe Cole, (Chelsea)
Subs: 13 David James, (Portsmouth), 16 David Bentley, (Blackburn Rovers), 17 Peter Crouch, (Liverpool), 18 Jermain Defoe, (Tottenham Hotspur),
Goals: Wright-Phillips 11, Rooney 32, Rähn og 33
Head Coach: Steve McClaren
Estonia: 1 Mart Poom (c), 3 Andrei Stepanov, 4 Raio Piiroja, 5 Dmitri Kruglov, 6 Aleksandr Dmitrijev, 9 Ragner Klavan, 10 Joel Lindpere, 15 Tarmo Kink (24 Kristen Viikmae 61), 17 Enar Jaager, 18 Kaimar Saag, 21 Taavi Rahn
Subs: 2 Teet Allas, 7 Martin Reim, 13 Urmas Rooba, 19 Alo Barengrub, 29 Sergei Terehhov, 30 Mihkel Aksalu
Coach: Viggo Jensen
Match Official Details:
Referee: Nicolai Vollquartz (Denmark)
Assistant Referees: Anders Norrestrand, Bo Abildgaard (Both Denmark)
Fourth Official: Thomas Vejlgaard
Attendance: 86,655