Andorra 0-2 England NotQuiteLiveBlog

September 6th, 2008 | by: Daryl | Comments(10)

Finally, some competitive footy for England. I’m watching it on my laptop with a little help from some legally questionable Chinese friends.

This isn’t really a LiveBlog, but I’ll keep it updated with any goals/interesting incidents. Comments welcome of course.

FULL-TIME: England win 2-0. I’ve seen worse, but have definitely seen better. But three points in the bag and it’s what happens Wednesday vs Croatia that really counts.

79′ Beckham coming on for Lampard. I’ve always thought Beckham should have moved into central midfield as he got older. Let’s see how he does.

78′ Not much to report from the last 20 or so minutes. As Jan has pointed out in the comments, Andorra putting some good effort in.

55′ 2-0. Joe Cole again. Rooney played a cute little pass (possible nutmeg I think) and Cole poked it past the keeper. This man should never sit on the England bench again.

48′ Joe Cole scores. 1-0. The word is “phew”. Lampard swung in a cross from a free kick, Walcott Lescott headed it down touched it on and Cole struck it sweetly on the volley. Hope Capello’s convinced about Cole now. The guy deserves to start for England.

45′ Second half underway.

Half time subs: Stewart Downing replaced by Joseph Coleseph, Jermaine Defoe replaced by Heskey.

HALF-TIME: And it’s 0-0 to Andorra.

42′ Question: Why are England dumping cross after cross into a crowded box with only Rooney and Defoe to aim at? That’s not an aerial battle either of those guys can win.

35′ Still 0-0. Rooney just failed to connect at the far post. Odds on this being a draw were 14/1. Blackjack has all the odds over at Bet Offside

23′ And we’re back. Still 0-0 though.

20′ My Chinese friends have lost their feed. I’ll give them a minute’s grace…

15′ – Quarter of an hour in and no goals, though England doing all the attacking. Too early to panic just yet though. Walcott’s looked fairly lively down the right, but whoever’s in charge of the cameras seems more interested in showing us Beckham lookimng agitated on the bench. Rooney just blazed one over.

Capello’s picked a pretty exciting team:

James, Johnson, Lescott, Terry, Ashley Cole, Walcott, Barry, Lampard, Downing, Rooney, Defoe. Subs: Robinson, Brown, Bridge, Joe Cole, Beckham, Bentley, Heskey.

Walcott and Downing out wide, Johnson and Cole getting forward, Defoe and Rooney up front. Lampard free to do his thang in midfield without Stevie G.

And here are the Andorran part-timers standing between Fabio and his first three points:

Alvarez, Ayala, Txema, Sonejee, Antoni Lima, Ildefons Lima, Pujol, Vieira, Silva, Jimenez, Andorra.
Subs: Josep Anton Gomez, Fernandez, Toscano, Riera, Escura, Vales, Moreno.

Don’t worry, it’s not Patrick Vieira. At least I’m pretty sure it’s not.