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Do You Remember The First Time?
On Wednesday England will play Belarus for the very first time, just four days after playing Kazakhstan for the very first time. We look at England's recent record over Europe's 'new' countries...
England 5 Kazakhstan 1 (World Cup qualfier - October 11, 2008)
Well, that went quite well, then. To be fair, the world's 131st-best country were probably never going to challenge England but if you ignore the rumblings of discontent that would follow England if they won the World Cup with a 5-0 win over Brazil in the final, you will see the victory as a job well done by Fabio Capello's boys. A third straight win in World Cup qualifying puts England halfway to the airport to get the plane to South Africa.
England 3 Russia 0 (Euro 2008 qualifier - September 12, 2007)
Probably Steve McClaren's finest hour as England manager as he had the unusually-strong balls to recall Emile Heskey in the face of general bemusement from the nation's media. Of course, the non-scoring striker did not score, but Michael Owen did net twice in a very convincing win (for the record, Steven Gerrard played in the centre of midfield alongside Gareth Barry) that appeared to put England in the driving seat for Euro 2008 qualification. Game no. 2 against Russia did not, unfortunately, go quite so well.
Estonia 0 England 3 (Euro 2008 qualifier - June 6, 2007)
David Beckham was recalled by McClaren and responded by setting up two of England's three goals in a laboured but ultimately convincing win in Tallinn with goals from Peter Crouch, Owen and Joe Cole. England fielded a makeshift defence featuring Ledley King and Wayne Bridge and were rarely tested by a side then ranked outside the FIFA top 100. The scoreline was repeated when the two sides met again four months later.
Azerbaijan 0 England 1 (World Cup 2006 qualifier - October 13, 2004)
Michael Owen stood in as captain after David Beckham's tactical booking against Wales ruled him out of the trip to Baku. He didn't miss a lot as this was an atrocious game played in appalling conditions, notable only because Sven-Goran Eriksson opted for a 4-3-1-2 formation that featured Wayne Rooney behind a tiny tots strike partnership of Jermain Defoe and Owen. The latter scored the only goal of a hugely forgetttable game that kept England on track for the World Cup in Germany.
England 2 FYR Macedonia 2 (Euro 2004 qualifier - October 16, 2002)
This was David Seaman's final appearance as England goalkeeper as he allowed Artim Sakiri to score directly from a corner-kick to give Macedonia - then ranked 90th in the world - a shock early lead at St Mary's. David Beckham equalised (from open play, no less) but Macedonia took the lead once again as England crumbled. Steven Gerrard unleashed a tremendous volley to rescue a point but was then stretchered from the pitch to be replaced by Nicky Butt and England eventually settled for a draw, with Alan Smith seeing red late in the game. Not England's finest hour.
Slovakia 1 England 2 (Euro 2004 qualifier - October 12, 2002)
The poor performance and result against Macedonia followed this lucky escape in Bratislava, where Boro's Szilárd Németh opened the scoring for Slovakia. England were truly rotten and David Beckham was lucky to still be on the pitch after a series of three poor challenges to score the equalising free-kick before Owen completed the comeback late in the game. Match reports from that game are already raising questions about Beckham's continued inclusion while we all know Paul Scholes was less than happy on the left.
Sarah Winterburn
