Gerard celebrates scoring against Hungary
Some forty-five days after England’s woeful World Cup exit at the hands of a rejuvenated German team, the English stars took to the field again against Hungary.
Much was made of Capello’s squad selection, with a number of high profile players snubbing international football altogether, the manager looked to the future and turned to youth with call ups for Joe Hart, Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs.
Despite threats of boos and jeers the 72,000 strong crowd were largely supportive, although the 0-0 halftime result tested their patience. In the second half Hungary came out strong and a mistake by Michael Dawson let Zoltan Gera through who fed the ball out wide. The incoming cross was then deflected off Phil Jagielka before seemingly being cleared by Dawson off the line. The linesman was having none of it flagged furiously for a goal – yet another case for goalline technology?
Although 1-0 down, the Wembley crowd rallied behind England, and less than 10 minutes after going behind Gerard smashed home a right footed volley 30-yeards from the Hungary goal. And just four minutes later, Gerard stuck again to put England in the lead.
The match ended 2-1, with some good performances, most notably from man-of-the-match Steven Gerard, but also from Kieran Gibbs and Bobby Zamora. Hart looked solid in goal and Ashley Young left plenty of cause for optimism after coming on at the break.
While England got the result they needed, it needs to be remembered that Hungary haven’t qualified for a major tournament since the 1980s and are ranked 55 places below England in the FIFA World rankings. With that in mind, one has to ask the question was the performance on Wednesday night enough to restore the nation’s faith in the national team?
