England 3 – 1 Egypt
Firstly may I apologise, due to alcohol related problems (ie I had to go and get some!) I was unable to post the team line ups.
On a night that saw 3 different men captain England there was plenty of ups and downs, and an abundance of nail biting moments.
After a briefly exciting opening few minutes culminating in a missed opportunity by Frank Lampard, England fell flat, giving away the ball in the mid-field and allowing the Egyptians plenty of run on goal. Inevitably with the consistent pressure Egypt went 1 – 0 up with a blinding strike by Zidan on the 23rd minute. Things remained shaky until half-time, and the team went back to the dressing room to the boo’s of the home crowd. Theo Walcott and Wes Brown failed to connect properly down the right, and most of the team put in lack lustre performances.
The second half saw Carrick and Crouch replace Lampard and Defoe, and play seemed more connected, with Crouch putting the ball home on the 56th. Shortly after saw Gerrard and Walcott replaced by Milner and Wright Phillips and play sparked to life. A beautiful strike by Milner was saved but the keeper failed to keep out Wright-Phillips rebound on the 75th. Crouch sealed the deal on the 80th to bag himself a brace and man of the match. Finally Carlton Cole replacing Rooney on the 86th minute, why? who knows, not a fan of Carlton Cole for England.
An obviously needed wake up call before South Africa in the summer.
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