England 1 Slovakia 0 - The Wembley Way & 109 not out

England 1 Slovakia 0 - The Wembley Way & 109 not out

The new Wembley is a gem, a beacon - quite literally considering the prominence of the Wembley Arch on the London skyline.
The old stadium’s trademark Twin Towers have been replaced by the arch as the new icon of English football, typical for a £800 million project which has seen tradition replaced by twenty-first century gleaming modernity without forgetting the history and the purity of the place.
Easily visible from the M1, the arch was all I’d seen of Wembley before stepping out of Wembley Park tube station and onto ‘Wembley Way’ on Saturday afternoon.
Once you’ve navigated the programme and scarf vendors, and made your way into the stadium, a mass of space-age escalators await to take you to the upper tier. We were up in the heavens, but with a perfect view of every inch of the pitch.
85,000 were there to see Capello’s England comfortably overcome Slovakia in a friendly, and whilst the atmosphere wasn’t quite the San Siro, the tingle that accompanied the singing of the national anthem was a little bit special. I struggle to see how the players could fear playing there.
It was frustrating how many left early whilst England led 3-0, but I hung on to see the fourth goal go in.
2618 toilets, the most of any venue in the world, and still the whole of half-time was spent queuing for the loo.

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One for the pub quizzes perhaps… When was the last time a sub’s sub was subbed in international football? The answer – Saturday afternoon at Wembley.
Emile Heskey was given the nod upfront, delivered the opening goal, but only made it to the 14th minute before going off. Next up: Carlton Cole, but he hobbled off before half-time to give third-choice Peter Crouch a run out. The Portsmouth man departed in the 74th minute though, when, all out of strikers, Fabio Capello called midfield man Michael Carrick off the bench.
For the present future, this potential striker shortage will give the England boss a few sleepless nights before Wednesday’s qualifier against Ukraine, casting a shadow on an otherwise useful friendly victory over a very meek Slovakia side during which the habitually aggressive Martin Skrtel even seeming overawed by the occasion.
But the target men’s loss was the No.10’s gain, Wayne Rooney completing a much-needed 90 minutes. Sir Alex won’t be complaining, with a domestic suspension coming up. Indeed, he might just be phoning Capello to thank him for getting his main man looking happy on a football pitch again, after we saw the return of an undisciplined adolescent in the red shirt of Manchester United the other week.
Rooney was irrepressible, having one of his boy-in-the-playground days where he just wants the ball for the full 90 minutes. There was one point in the first half where, with the other England players dawdling towards taking a throw-in on the left-wing, young Wayne sprinted over there and went to take it himself; before Ashley Cole reminded him it wasn’t his job!
Capello seems to have solved his Steven Gerrard problem for the moment, starting the Liverpool man on the left of midfield, with Rooney, who often takes up a left-wing position for United, switching with him at times, to allow Gerrard to express himself in the middle. It worked well in the first-half, but the man from the blue half of Merseyside certainly looked more comfortable in the second, when Gerrard was replaced by out-and-out winger Stewart Downing. Rooney, released from positional responsibilities, went on to score two richly-deserved goals.
The way I see it, the more this become Wayne’s team in the next five years, the better.

Another man who’s been in the headlines for the wrong reasons recently, Ashley Cole, didn’t have such a happy afternoon. Booed when his name was announced, he looked horribly short of confidence every time he was given the ball. The response of those around me in the crowd slowly turned from derision to a certain amount of sympathetic encouragement, but the damage was done. He looks a shadow of the player he has been at Arsenal and Chelsea in an England shirt at the moment, at least going forward. He still demonstrated why he’s the best defensive left-back in the world with several well-placed interventions, but soon, with the crowd on his back, there will come a time when he stops actually wanting the ball, for fear of being derided if it goes wrong.
The disgusting discouragement of home players by Wembley fans, often mentioned by England players, is, in my opinion, evidence of club rivalries taking precedence over the national side. I’ll admit that I was particularly elated when Chelsea boy Frank Lampard scored, and happy to pick up upon Steven Gerrard’s errors. Do similar feelings translate to the players themselves? I don’t see why not. They’ll always say the right things in press conferences, but will players really go out and give everything for one another in an England shirt if, as Wayne Rooney was all too happy to point out recently, they ‘hate’ the clubs one another play for?
In the meantime, Ashley Cole is the best left back we’ve got by a mile. And booing players will never be acceptable.

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On the occasion of the current captain’s 50th cap, the limelight was inevitably stolen by the previous captain’s own landmark. David Beckham’s 109th cap was a new record for an outfield player in an England shirt, and, despite cynics questioning the cameo appearances which pushed him past the 100 mark, an unquestionably deserved achievement.
I thought Fabio might have given Becks a start; even let him have some time with the captain’s armband on. But the boss isn’t one for sentiment, and rewarded Aaron Lennon for his recent form with a place on the right. Beckham got the 2nd 45 though, and set up Rooney first goal with a typically pinpoint cross. But why is this 33 year-old ‘one-trick-pony’ still being picked? Is it because he’s ‘David Beckham’, or because we’ve got nobody else; a sad reflection of the lack of international-quality right wingers in this country?
Actually, we’ve probably got more talented young right-sided players than in any other position. Shaun Wright-Phillips, David Bentley, Theo Walcott, Lennon and even Jermaine Pennant have all been touted as DB’s successor, and I’d add James Milner to that list as well. In a lot of ways, they’re a very similar bunch, perhaps Bentley aside, their main attributes being natural pace and their main shortfalls the final ball.
Wright-Phillips, Pennant and Bentley all showed the paradoxes of playing for top clubs too young. Not too long ago, it seemed that you had to play for the big four to get in the England side, but Pennant and Wright-Phillips’ moves to Liverpool and Chelsea respectfully, the latter for over £20 million, saw their careers stalling with a shortage of first-team action. Shaun’s return to Manchester City has paid dividends, whilst, although it may take some time, having Peter Crouch’s forehead as target practice down on the South coast whilst on loan at Portsmouth will surely bring the best out of Jermaine Pennant. Like Pennant, Bentley started out at Arsenal, but both were frustrated with the chances offered to them as English youngsters under Arsene Wenger. Questions of temperament might unfortunately be their biggest drawbacks, with Bentley’s outspoken tendencies not ongoing since his big-money move last summer from Blackburn to Tottenham last summer. His arrival at Spurs seemed to spell the end for Aaron Lennon, but in fact it’s often been Bentley warming the bench, with Lennon rejuvenated especially since Harry Redknapp’s arrival. It seems Juande Ramos was prone to overcomplicating things, whereas ‘arry boosts the confidence of his players by taking football back to its basics. Lennon has been the main beneficiary.
James Milner, who became the youngest player to score in the Premier League back in 2002, is very much of the outsider of the group, but the performer of the season amongst them. Aston Villa’s season may end in disappointment, but the young English core Martin O’Neill has got there have been flying.
Theo Walcott is very much the front-runner, recently returning from a shoulder dislocation looking sharp, and would surely have started in tomorrow’s qualifier but for another niggling injury. He’s also got that hat-trick against Croatia in the bag.
Looking ahead to the 2010 World Cup, and it’s a close race for which two of them will be on the plane. Walcott, injuries permitting, should be one, but I can’t pick the second out of a group of very similar players.
Becks will be there. He offers an old head, something different on the right, and, most importantly, is arguably still the outstanding deliverer of crosses in the world. It could even be that he’s still obscuring the progress of the young apprentices by sustaining his performance levels at A.C. Milan.
The cynics, of course, would say he’s still there to sell shirts, and, with the overly- dramaticised launch of England’s new retro shirt on Saturday looking like it should be worn by England’s cricketers instead, he may have an important job.
Becks, in the 15th England shirt since he made his debut back in 1996 (estimate, maths to be done), hogging the back pages in the summer of 2010? We wouldn’t have it any other way.