yep di natale:D!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2-1...20 mins left...

 

great news for Italy...where have you been Nico???:confused:

Heskey played excellently in both matches, and now deserves to retain his place (at least until Rooney's fit again).

Michael Owen now appears to be back to his best. How England have missed one of the best strikers in the world.

Richards and Barry also turned in fine performances - and what a cheeky goal from Ferdinand. He should do that more often!:D

 

Heskey played better than Rooney could ever dream about, send the brat boy back where he belongs, back to the U-21s

However, France aren't the team they were six years ago, and Scotland were under the cosh for long periods of the match.:wink2:

Scotland has played better this time. However, France is classified third so far in this group.

And 3rd isn't good enough to get into the championship!

 

You either got to top the group or come runner-up, there is no play-off lottery this time round :D

And 3rd isn't good enough to get into the championship!

 

You either got to top the group or come runner-up, there is no play-off lottery this time round :D

 

:rolleyes:

It's true though, if you come 3rd in the group, you won't get to the finals.

 

And unlike other years there isn't a play-off round between the runner-ups (14 places, 7 groups, 2 from each group)

England 3 Estonia 0 - latest

 

England scorers: Shaun Wright-Phillips 11, Wayne Rooney 32, Taavi Rahn Og 33

 

 

Last updated at 16:40pm on 13th October 2007 Comments

Gareth Barry edged out Frank Lampard in the battle to partner skipper Steven Gerrard in England's midfield for the crucial European Championship qualifier with Estonia at Wembley.

As he hinted yesterday, coach Steve McClaren opted to stick with Barry, who performed so well in last month's victories over Israel and Russia, although Lampard was on the bench after recovering from a torn thigh muscle.

 

 

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The rest of McClaren's side picked itself, with Sol Campbell's introduction for injured skipper John Terry and Wayne Rooney's recall in place of broken metatarsal victim Emile Heskey long since confirmed.

Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole and Joe Cole were also included, even though a booking against the Group E minnows would rule them out of Wednesday's potentially hazardous trip to Russia.

McClaren packed his bench with attacking options, with David Bentley, Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe all among the substitutes as England looked to maintain a three-match winning run in their group that would put them five points clear of Russia in the qualification battle.

Shaun Wright-Phillips gave England a 10th-minute lead. The Chelsea winger seized onto a pass from Micah Richards and drilled a low shot under the body of Estonian keeper Mart Poom from a narrow angle.

England had opened brightly and in the first 15 seconds Poom saved at the feet of Michael Owen, although the Newcastle striker had strayed marginally offside.

Estonia threatened for the first time when the England defence back-pedalled and allowed Joel Lindpere a run at their penalty area, but he screwed his shot a couple of yards wide.

Richards gave England an early injury scare when he needed treatment to the head after an aerial challenge by Ragnar Klavan inside the Estonian six yard box, but he was able to resume after treatment.

Rooney had a powerful shot blocked before Wright-Phillips broke the deadlock.

England continued to dominate as they pushed for the victory which would put them five points clear of Russia going into Wednesday's clash in Moscow.

The Estonians were content to defend in depth and England were allowed to knock the ball around at their leisure.

Barry and Gerrard combined in midfield to find Rooney in space some 25 yards from the Estonia goal.

The Manchester United star attempted an audacious 25-yard chip which had Poom back-pedalling but was just too high.

Andrei Stepanov brought down Ashley Cole on the left flank but Poom was able to punch out Gerrard's inswinging free-kick.

Owen was looking sharp and another well-timed run allowed him to meet a pass from Gerrard only for Poom to block his low shot.

He was ruled to have strayed offside but replays suggested he had been played on by Estonian defender Enar Jaager on the far side of the area.

Richards and Wright-Phillips were combining well down the right flank and another dangerous cross from the Chelsea player was well cut out by Dmitri Kruglov.

Raio Piiroja brought down Rooney in a central position 25 yards out but the resulting free-kick by the same player was comfortably dealt with by Poom.

The game was embarrassingly one-sided, and England took a cast-iron grip on proceedings by scoring twice in the space of three minutes to move into a 3-0 lead.

Rooney bagged his first competitive goal since the Euro 2004 finals, after 32 minutes.

Joe Cole was the creator as he sped past Aleksandr Dmitrijev on the left flank, before picking out Rooney with his low cross. He had time to turn before sending a low shot past Poom's dive, via a slight deflection off Piiroja.

Then England struck again - thanks to a spectacular own goal from Taavi Rahn.

The midfielder tried to intercept a ball into the box from Ashley Cole - but from 15 yards out succeeded only in heading past Poom into the corner of the net.

Wright-Phillips appealed optimistically for a penalty when he went down in the box after a challenge from Kruglov. But it seemed only a matter of time before England added to their tally.

McClaren made a half-time substitution, bringing on Everton defender Joleon Lescott for his England debut in place of Ferdinand.

The Manchester United player had shown no visible signs of carrying an injury and presumably was being protected from collecting the booking which would rule him out of the Russia game.

But there was an injury for McClaren to be concerned about after 48 minutes when Ashley Cole suffered an ankle injury and was replaced by Phil Neville.

The Chelsea left-back went over on his left ankle when involved in a challenge with Estonia striker Kaimar Saag and eventually left the arena for the dressing rooms on a stretcher.

Skipper John Terry, himself sidelined with a knee injury, was concerned enough to follow Cole down the tunnel.

Paul Robinson was called into action and did not look convincing when he fumbled a long drive by Klavan which he gathered at the second attempt.

England: Paul Robinson, Micah Richards, Rio Ferdinand, Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Steven Gerrard (capt), Gareth Barry, Joe Cole, Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen.

Substitutes: Joleon Lescott, David James, Phil Neville, Frank Lampard, David Bentley, Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe.

:rolleyes:just 3 - 0....

:rolleyes:just 3 - 0....

 

That's more than good enough. In fact, England have won their last five qualifying matches (including today's) by the same score, which is very impressive.;)

What's more, your team hasn't even played yet, and might not even reach the finals, as Scotland look likely to claim one of the places.

You should be worried!:P

And the Roonster is back with a vengeance!!:D

So everybody sing (to the tune of the Kaiser Chiefs): "Rooney, Rooney, Rooney, Rooney"............................ :rolleyes:

3-0 again that's creepy:rolleyes:

On-song Scotland beat Ukraine

 

James McFadden (left) scored one and set up the other two

 

Scotland kept their Group B bandwagon rolling as James McFadden inspired a clinical victory on the counter-attack that ended Ukraine's Euro 2008 hopes.

 

Kenny Miller headed Alex McLeish's side ahead after three minutes at Hampden following a McFadden free-kick.

 

McFadden was again the provider seven minutes later, with Lee McCulloch curling the ball home from 16 yards.

 

Andriy Shevchenko blasted a reply before half-time, but McFadden drilled in after 68 minutes to ensure victory.

 

McLeish had fielded a cautious line-up, with Miller in a lone striker's role, as he sought to keep Scotland top of their group.

 

Fit-again Gary Naysmith replaced Graham Alexander at left-back, while Stephen Pearson was given a central midfield role in the absence of Darren Fletcher and Paul Hartley.

 

Ukraine needed three points to have any hope of qualifying and coach Oleg Blokhin went with four attackers in Shevchenko, Andriy Vorobei, Andriy Voronin and Olexandr Gladkiy.

 

But the visitors found themselves on the back foot - and two down - within the opening 10 minutes.

 

Ukraine had looked calm and assured until Andriy Nesmachny lunged at Scott Brown wide on the right.

 

McFadden whipped the free-kick to the front post and Miller nipped across his marker and goalkeeper Olexandr Shovkovskiy to flick the ball home.

 

Hampden erupted again when Ferguson took a quick free-kick, McFadden flighted the ball to an unmarked McCulloch and the midfielder curled the ball into the far corner of the net.

 

A frustrated Shevchenko was booked for pulling Brown back, the card ruling the Chelsea striker out of Ukraine's next qualifier against the Faroes.

 

But Shevchenko drew his side back into the game when he latched on to a cross by Nesmachniy that came off Stephen McManus - then Naysmith - and drilled the ball into the roof of the net from close range.

 

Ukraine squandered a chance to level when defender Volodymyr Yezersky found himself with only goalkeeper Craig Gordon to beat in front of goal but failed to gather a Voronin up and under.

 

There then followed three strong penalty claims, all ruled out by referee Pieter Vink.

 

It looked like Vorobei failed to get a touch on the ball when challenging Alan Hutton as the defender strode into the box.

 

Naysmith then brought Shevchenko crashing to the ground 14 yards out, although the striker appeared to have already lost control of the ball.

 

In the closing seconds of an exciting half, Anatoly Tymoschuk possibly just stroked the ball with his studs after McFadden took the ball past the midfielder.

 

McCulloch was booked for disputing the decision, ruling the Rangers player out of the midweek trip to Georgia.

 

And the Scotland midfielder was injured in the first exchange of the second half after coming down awkwardly on his ankle.

 

Voronin fired just wide from 22 yards and then forced Gordon into a nervous save from a similar distance as Ukraine continued to dominate possession.

 

Gladkiy headed wide from 12 yards when found unmarked and McLeish eventually brought on Christian Dailly for the toiling McCulloch after 60 minutes.

 

That sparked Scotland back into life and they eased their nerves and effectively clinched the three points when McFadden collected a through ball from Hutton and drilled it past Shovkovskiy.

 

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Scotland: Gordon, Hutton, Weir, McManus, Naysmith, Brown (Maloney 76), Ferguson, Pearson, McCulloch (Dailly 60), McFadden (O'Connor 80), Miller.

Subs Not Used: Marshall, Robson, Boyd, Alexander.

 

Booked: Ferguson, McCulloch, Miller, O'Connor.

 

Goals: Miller 4, McCulloch 10, McFadden 68.

 

Ukraine: Shovkovskiy, Nesmachniy, Yezerskiy, Chygrynskyy, Kucher, Gusev (Rotan 46), Tymoschuk (Shelayev 73), Gladkiy, Vorobey (Nazarenko 62), Shevchenko, Voronin.

Subs Not Used: Pyatov, Milevskiy, Gay, Grytsay.

 

Booked: Nesmachniy, Shevchenko, Vorobey, Rotan.

 

Goals: Shevchenko 24.

 

Ref: Pieter Vink (Netherlands)

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/7032948.stm

And the Roonster is back with a vengeance!!:D

So everybody sing (to the tune of the Kaiser Chiefs): "Rooney, Rooney, Rooney, Rooney"............................ :rolleyes:

 

England are better off without Rooney

England are better off without Rooney

 

They're not. Rooney is a matchwinner. He played well today.

They're not. Rooney is a matchwinner. He played well today.

 

O really?

 

So those 2 matches against Israel and Russia don't count when he was out

O really?

 

So those 2 matches against Israel and Russia don't count when he was out

 

No. Heskey played well, but he's one-dimensional.

Rooney is multi-talented.

At getting sent off.

 

For a match-winning striker to get his first goal since 2004 (in a meaningful game), he doesn't really add much to the game

At getting sent off.

 

For a match-winning striker to get his first goal since 2004 (in a meaningful game), he doesn't really add much to the game

 

Rubbish. He's been going through a bad patch, but now he's back. He's a world-class player. Heskey isn't.

A bad patch lasting an entire world cup campaign plus most of a European championship qualifying campaign.

 

He's reacted badly for being down-graded from "World Class" to "Potentially World Class"

A bad patch lasting an entire world cup campaign plus most of a European championship qualifying campaign.

 

He's reacted badly for being down-graded from "World Class" to "Potentially World Class"

 

He hasn't been completely fit, and definitely wasn't last year. He was also played in the wrong position.

Yep, he was being played in the wrong position for the wrong team. Send him back to the U-21s.

Yep, he was being played in the wrong position for the wrong team. Send him back to the U-21s.

 

You'll eat your words. Just wait and see.;)

*Rooney gets sent off against Russia as England go down 5-0*

*Rooney gets sent off against Russia as England go down 5-0*

 

Ha! In days of yore you would have been sent to the Tower for making such a suggestion!!:rolleyes:

Come On Scotland!

 

Victory over Georgia on Wednesday and if France fails to beat Lithuania would mean 1 foot in the door