Sturridge secures points in Portugal
Jamie Bradbury in Barcelos
Friday, 03 September, 2010
Victory in Portugal sees Young Lions edge closer to Euro play-offs.
A first half strike from Chelsea man Daniel Sturridge kept alive England’s hopes of reaching the 2011 European Championship as the Three Lions beat Portugal by a narrow one-goal victory.
And the result was no more than England deserved after creating the best opportunities, and seeing the ball hit the back of the net twice, in a fairly cagey affair with Denmark destiny at stake for both sides.
Stuart Pearce’s men made it a win-double over the Portuguese, following their victory at Wembley in November and must now wrap up Group Nine with a win in Colchester on Tuesday to put them in contention for the play-offs.
It was a warm evening in Barcelos, the scoreboard saying 27 degrees, with half the pitch bathed in sunshine as the two teams weighed each other up in the early stages. Portugal had more of the ball, but were forced into shots from range with central striker Bebe, who joined Manchester United this summer, being taken care of by his United team mate Chris Smalling.
Their two attempts of note were both from over 30 yards and neither troubled Frank Fielding, but came closer to the solitary England flag hanging high in the virtually empty stand.
The Three Lions were taking longer to settle into the game and get their offensive game going but Tom Cleverley and Jordan Henderson soon began to dictate the midfield area, while the front pair of Sturridge and Danny Welbeck worked hard to provide an attacking option.
And it was Pearce’s men who thought they’d scored midway through the first half when Kyle Walker got in behind left-back Fabio Faria and delivered low across the six yard box. Sturridge couldn’t connect at the near post but Welbeck arriving at the back applied the finish. However, the linesman signalled for offside, though replays suggested otherwise, and the score remained level.
But just after the half-hour mark a deserved opening goal came for England. As Portugal looked to play the ball out of defence just inside their half, Welbeck won it back and handed over to Cleverley and he passed diagonally through the defence into the path of Sturridge. The Chelsea man waved his left boot, flicking with his out step over the head of Rui Patricio to send the four apparent England fans into celebration.
Portuguese central midfielder David Simao had their best effort of the half, seriously testing Fielding with another long-range drive, but the Blackburn stopper made it look easy gathering the low ball.
A free-kick for the home side on the edge of the area early in the second half sprung the band behind the goal, dressed as suit-wearing cockerels, into action, but when the delivery was headed clear by Phil Jones, their drumming and trumpeting quickly stopped.
Portugal needed some inspiration to get back into the game and keep their own hopes of qualification alive. Coach Oceano Cruz replaced midfielder David Simao with Rio Ave striker Yazalde to join Bebe in attack in the hope of unsettling the solid pairing of Jones and Smalling.
It was Bebe though, who had rarely had a sight of goal, who came close to levelling on a Portuguese counter-attack. He raided the right-hand side, cutting into the box to send Mancienne sliding past, but the United man’s shot was straight at Fielding and he beat it away with his fists.
Yazalde then hit the top of the bar with a deflected drive from a tight angle but England remained firm.
Mancienne was forced off bleeding with 15 minutes remaining after receiving a knock to the face, but on came the experienced Fabrice Muamba into the midfield.
England were now focused on defending, going forward on the break with Danny Rose providing the most threat on the left.
A speculative looping effort from 18 yards from Andre Pinto almost caught Fielding out in the final minute, but he was across the goal quickly to pluck from the air.
Sturridge almost wrapped up the points with a volley from a Henderson cross in the final minute of normal time, but failed to hit the target, then his replacement Nathan Delfouneso rounded the keeper before missing the target with the very last kick as the referee blew for full-time.
Part one of the double-header is completed successfully, now attentions will turn to the Final group game on Tuesday.
The Teams
Portugal
Rui Patricio, Fabio Faria, Andre Pinto, Daniel Carrico (c), David Simao (Yazalde 59), Andre Santos, Castro, Bruno Perairinha, Bebe, Ukra, Joao Goncalves (Joao Silva 78)
Subs Ventura, Candeias, Rui Pedro, Bura, Pedro Moreira
Coach Oceano Cruz
England
Frankie Fielding, Kyle Walker, Ryan Bertrand, Michael Mancienne (c) (Fabrice Muamba 75), Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Tom Cleverley, Jordan Henderson, Danny Welbeck (Jack Cork 84), Daniel Sturridge, Danny Rose
Subs Jason Steele, Martin Kelly, Marc Albrighton, Jack Cork, Jack Wilshere, Nathan Delfouneso
Coach Stuart Pearce
Referee Michael Lerjeus (Swe)
Assistants Peter Vesterholm and Daniel Warnmark
Fourth Official Martin Strombergsson