Today I'm going back 16 years to 2005 and England's World Cup qualifier against Wales at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Watching England away in a World Cup Qualifier is something I've only managed to do twice in my life: the "do I not like that" debacle in Rotterdam in 1993 and this game which was a much happier experience.
Wales, managed by John Toshack went into the game 83rd in FIFA's World rankings whereas England, under Sven-Goran Eriksson were 7th. Although England were dominant throughout, they won the game only narrowly by a single and heavily deflected goal scored by Joe Cole off of Danny Gabbidon in the 53rd minute. Looking back at the starting line-up that day, the two England players with the least experience were Charlton Athletic's Luke Young (his 3rd cap of 7 in total) and Chelsea's Shaun Wright-Phillips (his 5th cap of 36).
In their six team Group, England finished top securing 25 points out of a possible 30 and thereby qualifying for the 2006 World Cup Finals to be held in Germany. Wales finished in a distant fifth place in the Group, some 16 points behind Poland who also qualified from the Group alongside England.
CRB Match No. 1448
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