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MATOKEO MECHI ZA JANA KUFUZU KOMBE LA DUNIA - ULAYA|
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For the book-keeper, the banker and the olive oil maker, it was always going to be a difficult encounter. For the accountant who stands between the posts for this San Marino side, making the numbers work was always going to be nigh on impossible.
But for 35 minutes the 207th best team in the world — joint 207th it should be said — did manage to make life a little uncomfortable for Roy Hodgson’s England side.
Lions roar: England were slow to get going against San Marino before over-running their lowly opponents
MATCH FACTS
ENGLAND: Hart, Walker, Cahill, Jagielka, Baines, Walcott (Lennon 10), Carrick (Shelvey 66), Cleverley, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Welbeck, Rooney (Carroll 73). Subs not used: Ruddy, Cole, Lescott, Shawcross, Milner, Adam Johnson, Defoe, Forster.
Goals: Rooney 35pen, Welbeck 37, Rooney 70, Welbeck 72, Oxlade-Chamberlain 77.
SAN MARINO: Aldo Simoncini, Fabio Vitaioli (Bacciocchi 84), Davide Simoncini, Brolli, Palazzi, Cibelli, Coppini (Buscarini 76), Rinaldi (Selva 79), Della Valle, Gasperoni, Cervellini.Subs not used: Valentini, Bollini, Marani, Mazza, Vannucci, Matteo Vitaioli.
Referee: Gediminas Mazeika (Lithuania)
Not because they put Joe Hart under any kind of pressure. It was 15 minutes before England’s goalkeeper touched the ball and after 90 minutes he had still not been forced to make a save.
But the tiny republic stopped England scoring for more than half an hour and the expression of relief on Hodgson’s face said it all when Wayne Rooney did finally strike from the penalty spot to open the scoring.
In the end, Rooney proved himself a good England captain here at Wembley. He scored the first goal and the third as well, easing any danger of embarrassment for England’s manager and visibly urging his international colleagues to improve the goal-difference figure that could yet become important in a competitive qualification group.
Rooney also superseded Tom Finney, Nat Lofthouse and Alan Shearer as the fifth highest goal-scorer in England’s history, taking his personal tally to 31.
Crash: Theo Walcott was forced off early on after a high-speed collision with goalkeeper Aldo Junior Simoncini
And the fact that Danny Welbeck scored two goals of his own last night should convince Hodgson to stick with the partnership come Tuesday’s game against Poland in Warsaw.
As a contest this went pretty much as expected — a team of leading professional footballers against a bunch of blokes who, for the most part, make their money from rather less lucrative professions.
They put 10 men behind the ball, in Hodgson’s words giving a ‘new meaning to attack versus defence’, and in doing so limited England to five goals.
On the spot: Simoncini handed England a chance to gain the advantage when he sent Danny Welbeck to the turf
No mistake: From the resulting spot kick, Wayne Rooney blasted England into the lead
The scoreline did disguise what was a laboured England performance at times. In the first half, in particular, the passing could have been more precise, the final ball more clinical.
But this was not a game worthy of a World Cup qualification campaign when the team in blue should have been eliminated before the draw had even been made. As pundit Gareth Southgate said during ITV’s half-time assessment, ‘What is the point of San Marino?’ And well he might ask. Decent competition? They were more like a team of competition winners.
For players from Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Everton, motivation might well have been an issue and the negative approach employed by Giampaolo Mazza did not make it any easier.
Hodgson showed rather more ambition, selecting a front six that boasted two Arsenal wingers and four Manchester United players.
Within the first couple of minutes Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had forced a fine save from Aldo Simoncini, San Marino’s part-time goalkeeper and full-time accountant.
But the number cruncher caught England’s No 7 Theo Walcott with a shocking, Toni Schumacher-style challenge — one that somehow escaped punishment — and by the 10th minute Hodgson was forced to make a change, replacing the dazed, badly damaged Walcott with Aaron Lennon.
Bit of magic: Welbeck doubled the lead, replicating his goal against Sweden from Euro 2012
To have survived for as long as they did without conceding a goal must have been San Marino’s finest achievement on the international stage. By the 33rd minute England had struck the woodwork twice, with Michael Carrick sending a shot against the crossbar and Welbeck seizing on the rebound, only to see his effort bounce back off a post.
The breakthrough soon followed, however, with Simoncini racing off his line and, as he tried to take the ball off Welbeck’s feet, bringing down the rapidly advancing England striker. Gediminas Mazeika pointed to the penalty spot and Rooney did the rest with an excellent spot-kick.
England’s second goal arrived two minutes later, Welbeck meeting a ball from Lennon with a back-heeled flick to leave Simoncini beaten again. As Welbeck demonstrated with his winning goal against Sweden at the European Championship last summer, he does like to finish in style.
England continued to press after the break and, when Carrick and Welbeck executed a decent one-two, the move ended with the latter’s shot flying wide via a deflection. But Hodgson’s side were failing to penetrate their opponents in the manner their manager would have wanted, with too few attacks down the flanks to break down a wall of blue shirts.
Instead, they too often tried to pass their way through the middle, and so played into the hands of a grateful San Marino back line.
Double trouble: It took until the second half for the Manchester United duo grab one more each
Hodgson must have been growing increasingly frustrated. Two goals was not nearly enough. But when Lennon delivered a short pass to Rooney, the man wearing the armband eased the growing sense of anxiety with a terrific curling strike.
That goal arrived in the 70th minute and by the 72nd Welbeck, much like the first half, had responded with one of his own, this time meeting a cross from the improving Tom Cleverley with another neat finish.
That Oxlade-Chamberlain made it 5-0 five minutes after that with a curling strike to rival Rooney’s was reward for a fine performance from the 19-year-old.
It was enough to leave Hodgson reflecting on a decent night’s work, and enough to give him encouragement for what comes next.
England move on to Poland. For San Marino, to borrow another line from Southgate, it should now be ‘The Dog and Fox’.
Top Gunner: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain got in on the act late on for his first England goal
