England 4 Bulgaria 0
England got their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign off to an excellent start with a 4-0 win over Bulgaria. A hat-trick from Tottenham’s Jermain Defoe and a goal from Adam Johnson saw Fabio Capello’s side win in convincing fashion. The Eastern European nation offered little threat throughout, but Joe Hart was called into action making three top saves.
At the other end former Liverpool goalkeeper Nikolay Mihaylov’s first action was to parry Ashley Cole’s shot from a tight angle, seconds later in just the third minute England took the lead with the Chelsea full-back crossing from the rebound for Defoe to volley into the roof of an unguarded net. Though they did not add to the score before half time a lot of the approach play was encouraging and there seemed to be more fluidity about the Three Lions.
The only thing which marred the victory was the injury to Michael Dawson, stretchered off early in the second half on his full debut. This allowed Bolton’s Gary Cahill to finally make his bow though he looked a little nervous at times. England doubled their lead on the hour mark countering from a Bulgarian attack which saw Hart parry a Stanislav Angelov shot from Martin Petrov’s square. Wayne Rooney drove up the park and slotted in for Defoe to add his second, finishing with aplomb through the legs of Mihaylov. The Spurs striker turned provider for Adam Johnson who placed the ball beyond the keeper after cutting inside from the right wing. Another great pass from Rooney saw Defoe collect the match ball after eighty-six minutes, though he took a knock on his ankle which will add to the concerns of his club manager Harry Redknapp. His triple has improved his goals-to-game ratio at the highest level substantially. Defoe's pace and clinical finishing will make him a hnadful for defenders in the Champions League.
Defensively Bulgaria did not put up much of a fight and were really lacking in pace at the back. PSV’s highly rated Sanislav Manolev had a particularly torrid time against Ashley Cole and was withdrawn with a quarter of the game to go. Ivelin Popov, a player who I earmarked as one to watch in Monday’s preview, only showed very brief flashes of his talent. The forward is now plying his trade in the Turkish Super League after a transfer deadline day move. They were simply lacking in thrust and unsurprisingly Valeri Bojinov’s legs have gone; there can be no doubt Dimitar Berbatov would’ve been more than a handful for Dawson/Cahill and Jagielka. Borussia Dortmund’s Dimitar Rangelov drew one save from Joe Hart, but he should feel that he could have done better, the finish nonetheless reflecting his poor international record. The Eastern Europeans had some good approach play but the lack of a consistent final ball and poor finishing were their undoing when coupled with their defensive frailties
Overall England kept their shape well, but there were one or two mistakes. Glen Johnson’s near own goal in the first half sticks out in the mind. Thankfully Hart was alert to it. Early in the second forty-five before getting injured Michael Dawson was particularly slack when he failed to deal with a long ball that saw Popov shoot just wide. Tonight’s win was comfortable but I am keeping my feet firmly on the ground. I have always believed the second match in this double header, the trip to Switzerland on Tuesday, will be the tougher test. That said there are a good number of positive for Capello and England fans to take from the performance at Wembley.
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