Today I'm going back nine years to 2013 and the Friendly International between England and the Republic of Ireland played at Wembley Stadium in front of a near capacity attendance of 80,126.
The featured game was England's 919th International ever and, before the match, Ashley Cole received a Golden Cap from manager Roy Hodgson for playing in 11% of those games. His appearance against Ireland was actually Cole's 102nd appearance for his country with his century having come three games earlier against Brazil at Wembley where he became England's seventh ever centurion in a match had also been remarkable for it being the first time that two centurions had appeared on the pitch at the same time for England (Cole's team mate in that game was 101 cap Steven Gerrard). In addition to the Golden Cap, Cole was given the honour of captaining England for this game and, when substituted before the end, he received a rousing reception from the Wembley crowd. Cole was frequently described as being the best left backs in the world at the time but he never seemed to be much of a crowd favourite and had mockingly been called "Cashley" by some fans because of his pay demands. A request for an additional £5,000 a week from Arsenal was not met and eventually signalled his departure to moneybags Chelsea. My view is that, in a relatively short career, a player is entitled to know his own worth and to leave for a club that is prepared to pay that if he so chooses. The media often seemed to be on Ashley Cole's back and I recall a point in Steven Gerrard's career where there were rumours that he might move to Chelsea too before Liverpool satisfied his pay demands and he stayed on to become an Anfield legend. I don't recall Gerrard receiving the same hostile treatment in the press as did Cole however. To coin an Ali G phrase: "Is it because I am black?".
The featured game was hastily arranged as part of the FA's 150th anniversary celebrations but was possibly a game too far for some of England's leg-weary players. As usually seems to be the case in matches against England by one of the (former) "home" nations, the Irish seemed to be relishing the fixture more than did the England players and we looked set for a difficult evening, all the more so when the Irish took the lead after just 13 minutes following a Seamus Coleman cross that Shane Long headed past Joe Hart and into the net. The lead lasted just ten minutes however when Frank Lampard poked the ball home past Millwall's David Forde in the Irish goal following good work by Liverpool's Daniel Sturridge. It was Lampard's 28th goal from 96 England appearances and he too went on to become yet another England centurion finishing his International career on 106 appearances and 29 goals, all the more remarkable when you consider that Lampard played his entire career in midfield.
Also appearing in the game was an Irish player who had records of his own. LA Galaxy's Robbie Keane was already the record Irish goalscorer of all time and he won his 124th cap in this game putting him just one cap behind Shay Given in the Irish all-time list. Keane went on to make a record 146 appearances for Ireland, scoring 68 goals between 1998-2016 and one wonders if either record will ever be beaten. Always a more than respectable goal scorer at club level, Keane's numbers for his club sides totalled 325 goals scored in 737 appearances. But did you know that, according to Wikipedia, this charming man is actually a cousin of the former Smiths front man Morrissey?
The game saw no further goals with the Irish perhaps the happier of the two sides with the score draw. Certainly their players celebrated as if they had won the game at the final whistle to resounding cheers from Irish fans in the stadium. If any England players were indeed leg-weary following a long season, one wonders what they would have thought of their next game played just four days later following a long haul flight to Rio in order to face Brazil at the Maracana! That game finished 2-2 and the England boys could finally head off to the beach for a well earned break.
CRB Match No. 1959
Comments
Post a Comment