England on Brink of Qualification for South Africa 2010

June 15, 2009

England have moved to within three points of qualification after another successful international week.

Fabio Capello’s men are the top European scorers and notched another 10 goals without reply, including three from Wayne Rooney who is now the individual top scorer. Put to the sword were Kazakhstan and Andorra who lost 4-0 and 6-0 respectively.

While both sides are undoubtedly minnows of the international game, the manner in which they were dispatched was impressive nonetheless. Kazakhstan did cause England some problems before Gareth Barry’s 40th minute opener but Andorra were effortlessly swept aside and could count themselves a little fortunate to concede just six goals.

England are now top of Group 6 by eight points and know a win in their next game, at home to Croatia, will confirm their place in South Africa. After the Andorra match, England’s head coach was quick to express his pleasure at both the performance and the support. Just over 55,000 fans were in attendance despite a tube strike and Capello said: “I am very happy for the fans, very happy for the people that stayed here. I am happy today.”

Should England beat Croatia, it will give the Italian a chance to experiment with some youngsters and fringe players. One of them is likely to be Jermain Defoe. The Tottenham front-man bagged two goals after coming off the bench on Wednesday, however with Capello favouring a big man plus Wayne Rooney up front, it will be an uphill battle for Defoe to secure a starting spot.

Another player keen to make an impression is 23 year old winger Ashley Young. Young was awarded his fourth international cap against Andorra and will be looking to build on a promising, if slightly wasteful performance.

If England are to achieve their ultimate goal and win the World Cup, these next few games could prove crucial. Fabio Capello has already found a successful plan A, if he can succeed where Eriksson failed and find a plan B, the ghosts of 1966 may finally be laid to rest.

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