Today I'm going back 12 years to 2009 and England's World Cup Qualifier against Croatia at Wembley Stadium. England went into the game in 7th place in the FIFA World rankings with Croatia not very far behind in 9th so we anticipated a close game. How wrong we were! Croatia had recently put paid to England's hopes of qualification for the 2008 European Championships on an infamous wet night at Wembley in 2007 and England boss at the time Steve McLaren as christened "the Wally with the Brolly". Two years later and here was the perfect opportunity for revenge.
Programme cover star Ashley Cole had an article in the programme on his wish to reach 100 England caps, something that he did go on to achieve with 107 caps in total. Variously, Cole is the most capped black player in England's history and the most capped full back as well as being the player with the most caps never to score a goal for England. Cole never seemed to be a popular player in the media and was roundly lambasted for being "greedy" when holding out from signing a new contract from Arsenal wanting an additional £5,000 a week. In the end Cole moved to Chelsea to meet his salary aspiration but always seemed to be portrayed as being mercenary. One wonders whether his media portrayal was partly because he was black?
The match got off to an exciting start and Fabio Capello's England dominated from the off. Seven minutes in and Aaron Lennon was brought down following a determined dribble into the penalty area and Frank Lampard scored from the resulting penalty to give England a precious lead. England's second in the 18th minute came as a result of good work by Lennon again with his cross being met by Stevie G (Gerrard) whose powerful header have the Croatian goal keeper Vedran no chance. It was 2-0 at the break but with no sense of exaggeration, England could easily have had six in that first half such was their dominance.
Come 58 minutes and the match was effectively over. A great run into the box from Glenn Johnson was met by a deft header from Frank Lampard and he had his second and England's third goal of the night. Soon England had a fourth and this time it was another goal from Stephen Gerrard. The game was proving to be a great response to all those doubters who seemed to question whether Lampard and Gerrard could both be accommodated in England's midfield. They could and now they had two goals each to show for it! Next it was Croatia's turn to score. Robert Green had made two quick fire saves before Croatia stuffed the ball home at the third attempt courtesy of the Croatian player with the least Croatian name: Brazilian-born Arsenal player Eduardo. Green was annoyed to lose his clean sheet but, judging by his face, Capello was furious! England's four goal advantage was soon restored however following an awful clearance by the Croatian keeper which went straight to Rooney who slotted home for number five and Capello was smiling again. It finished 5-1.
The game was a Qualifier for the 2010 South African World Cup. The result guaranteed England's qualification and England ended up comfortably winning the Group with 27 points from a possible 30. Croatia missed out to Ukraine in the race for second place and a chance to secure qualification via a Play-Off. Ukraine eventually lost to Greece over two legs and never made it to South Africa.
CRB Match No. 1709
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