Buzzin Football

fabio capello

England fought back in the friendly against Holland after giving away two cheap goals in the first half, to earn themselves a well deserved draw. Fabio Capello said that he thought England started with too much confidence and silly mistakes by veteran defender Rio Ferdinand and Gareth Barry gifted two goals to the Dutch team who lead 2-0 at half time.

Ferdinand was guilty of a very casual back pass to Robert Green that fell short of the keeper allowing Dirk Kuyt to easily score the first goal for Holland. The second goal came from a lovely pass from Barry to Arjen Robben, his shot was parried by Green but Van Der Vaart tapped in the rebound.

Despite being two goals down England created chances of their own in the first half but could not finish them off. Some astute tactical changes followed in the second half, notably Jermain Defoe for Emile Heskey and the response from England was immediate, the Spurs striker pulling one goal back within five minutes of his introduction.

England looked the livelier of the two teams in the second half and deserved an equaliser, which came with 13 minutes to go, care of Defoe, after some good work by James Milner on the left wing.

At the final whistle it was Holland who felt relieved as England forced them onto the back foot in search of an unlikely victory. The Dutch coach Bert Van Marwijk heaped praise on England substitute Carlton Cole who replaced Wayne Rooney on the hour. “Carlton Cole came on in the second half and caused us a lot of trouble,” he said,  “We made silly mistakes, just like England, but Cole put our defence under a lot of pressure in the second half.”

Capello remained unstirred by the mistakes that led to Hollands half time advantage and his tactical changes allowed England to take a grip on the game. The England coach said after the game;

“I think they played with too much confidence, but we recovered the result and that will help us. We have to remember this game in the future. I prefer these things happen here, not when the game is really important for World Cup qualification. But really, I would prefer not to have had to recover the result at all.”