England, September 06: As a dress rehearsal it was satisfactory rather than exhilarating, although Wednesday night’s production, with Croatia stepping in for yesterday’s understudies from Slovenia, is the one that matters.
The opposition had been chosen for their stylistic similarities to Slaven Bilic’s team, but he is likely to have at his disposal an attacking player or two with a sharper edge than their former Yugoslav countrymen. Even so, the visitors still angered Fabio Capello with a late goal, denying England one of their rare clean sheets.
What the manager would certainly appreciate this week is some of the luck his side enjoyed for the opening goal here, courtesy of a Swede named Eriksson. This one was Jonas, the referee who awarded them a first-half penalty after Wayne Rooney fouled the opposing centre-half, who was so badly injured he took no further part in the game.
Frank Lampard tucked it away for a lead that England barely deserved at that point. Jermain Defoe, full of goals at present, came on in the second half to add another, his eighth under Capello, although he may still not have done enough to displace Emile Heskey in the game on Wednesday that offers England a ticket to the World Cup finals next summer.
–Agencies