With England 35 minutes from another embarrassing 0-0 tie,
Stephen Gerrard got his nation back on track -- at least for a
night.
Gerrard scored a pair of second-half goals and David Nugent
added one in injury time to give England a 3-0 victory over Andorra
in a European Championship qualifier.
England (3-1-2), which ended a five-game winless streak, has 11
points in Group E, two behind Croatia (4-0-1) and even with Israel
(3-1-2) and Russia (3-0-2). Only the top two teams in each group
advance automatically to next year's tournament.
Before Gerrard's first goal, players were jeered by the 17,000
English fans who made the trip to Barcelona, Spain.
"During the game it isn't nice for the players, certainly,"
England captain John Terry said. "They're the fans, entitled to
their opinion. But I think for the players' sake, and England's
sake, it's best if they keep their opinions until after the
game."
Wayne Rooney chested a ball to Gerrard at the edge of the
penalty area, and Gerrard scored on a low volley in the 54th
minute. Gerrard scored the second in the 76th after taking Jermaine
Defoe's through pass and slowly rolling the ball under goalkeeper
Koldo Alvarez. Nugent, making his international debut, tapped in
Defoe's low shot as it was crossing the line in injury time.
"I'm proud of the players. We've won the game and now we move
on," said England coach Steve McClaren, who has been under
criticism that intensified following Saturday's 0-0 tie at
Israel.
World Cup champion Italy beat visiting Scotland 2-0 at Bari on
goals by Luca Toni in the 12th and 70th minutes. Italy (3-1-1) is
second in Group B, two points behind Ukraine and France (both 4-1),
and Scotland (4-2).
"Maybe I was being presumptuous, but I expected nothing less,"
said Italy coach Roberto Donadoni, who also has been criticized.
"This team showed its quality."
The Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Spain, Poland and
defending champion Greece also won qualifiers.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst scored a late goal to lead the
Netherlands (4-0-2) over Slovenia 1-0, and the Czech Republic moved
back into a tie for first place in Group D with a 1-0 win over
Cyprus as Radoslav Kovac scored his first international goal in the
20th minute. Ireland (4-2-1), which trails the Czechs and Germans
by three points, beat visiting Slovakia 1-0 on Kevin Doyle's
12th-minute header at Dublin following Damien Duff's free kick.
Spain (3-2) moved into third place in Group F with nine points
after Andres Iniesta scored a 79th-minute goal in a 1-0 win over
visiting Iceland. Poland (5-1-1) opened a five-point lead in Group
A by beating Armenia 1-0 in Maciej Zurawski's goal in the 26th
minute.
Greece (4-1) moved one point behind first-place Turkey (4-0-1)
in Group C, getting a 66th-minute penalty kick from Angelos Basinas
in a 1-0 victory over Malta.
Israel beat Estonia 4-0 with teenage forward Ben Sahar scoring
two goals, and Roberto Colautti and Idan Tal added the others.
In exhibition games, Denmark won 1-0 at Germany on Nicklas
Bendtner's 81st-minute goal at Duisburg and France over visiting
Austria 1-0 at Saint-Denis on Karim Benzema's goal in the 53rd.
(China Daily via AP March 29, 2007)