England National Football Team Match No. 778

Albania 1 England 3 [0-0]

Wednesday, 28 March 2001

Match Summary and Report

Match Summary

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Albania Team

75th in FIFA ranking of 14 March 2001; 83rd in Elo world ranking before this match and 85th after this match.

Albania Lineup

Albania Substitutes

All appearance and goal tallies are taken from the Soccernet website, and could be incorrect.

3-5-2.
Strakhosa -
Fakaj, Cipi, Xhumba -
Lala, Vata (Rraklli), Hasi, Kola (Mukaj), Bellai -
Bushi, Tare (Skela).

England Team

16th in FIFA ranking of 14 March 2001; 12th in Elo world ranking before this match and 12th after this match.

England Lineup

England Substitutes

4-4-2 with one forward slightly withdrawn:
Seaman -
G. Neville, Campbell (Brown), Ferdinand, Ashley Cole -
Beckham, Butt, Scholes, McManaman (Heskey) -
Owen (Sheringham) -
Andrew Cole.

Match Report

England almost gave the game away during the five minutes the referee generously awarded as time added on as they demonstrated the perils of trying to wait out the clock rather than playing the game to its conclusion.  Captain Beckham and Gary Neville are the main culprits as the ball is played back towards England's goal.  Ferdinand fails to clear the ball, it goes out, an Albanian retrieves it to take the throw-in and when Ferdinand goes for the ball to make an untenable claim for an England throw-in, evidently believing he can kill further time by doing so, the throw is quickly taken and the Albanian sub has a clear path through to the goal with Ferdinand, who's been had and knows it, trailing behind like a flapping goose about to be cooked.  Two terrible mental lapses by Ferdinand in two consecutive games with the same result--the opposition gets a man free and he scores.  Eriksson will have to have patience here.  Fortunately for England, it's a quality he has in spades, along with the courage and conviction to resist the impetuous demands of the media herd.

My man of the match:  the sub who came on late for Albania and scored both their goals, including the one dubiously disallowed for offside, for making the last few minutes unbearable for England fans.  My England man of the match:  for lack of better candidates, the two Coles:  Ashley Cole, who had some bright moments on his debut, and the media herd's favourite whipping boy, Andrew Cole, who created England's second and winning goal with his run and pass and who finally broke his scoring duck--a scoring duck of five years, The Times misleadingly labels it while failing to mention that it consisted of seven starts in 12 appearances--on England's third goal, yet still managed to please the myopic media herd by picking up his second yellow card in the competition, thereby ensuring he will not play against Greece because of suspension or, consequently, against Mexico because Eriksson no longer has a reason to pick him for a warm-up match.  There now, Wee Davy Mellor and media herd colleagues, if you really try, it's not too hard, is it, to have the common courtesy to refer to someone by the name he now prefers?  Lesson No. 2:  Repeat after me, now, it's Muhammad Ali, not Cassius Clay, it's Muhammad Ali, not Cassius Clay, it's Muhammad Ali, not Cassius Clay.  By jove, I think you've got it.

England gave up their first goal ever to Albania.

First time England have won three successive matches since 1997.  This Eriksson is something and the media herd really warm to him, forced to recognize, belatedly, that he's incomparably better than the mediocrity they foisted on us after they got rid of Hoddle.  Still, Flick and Flack on The Times, whose viciously dishonest distortions were primarily responsible for Hoddle's demise, find it necessary to deliver patronising lectures to Eriksson, as if they can tell him anything about football, even English football.  They might be able to tell him who plays where for Sunderland, but nada about the game proper.

At the end of the match, after Teddy Sheringham came on as a late substitute, seven Manchester United players were on the pitch for England, equalling, sort of, the record set against Italy in the Battle of Highbury in 1934, when seven Arsenal players played the whole match for England before substitutions were allowed.

Channel 5's coverage amateurish, even given Albanian responsibility for the awful camera work.

A very promising debut for Ashley Cole.  Very few matches for Arsenal's first team and already an England international.  Eriksson demonstrates he has the courage to follow through on his judgment when lesser coaches might have hesitated in a crucial World Cup qualifier.

Andrew Cole breaks his 12-match scoring duck but also draws his second yellow card of the competition, which means he will be suspended for England's next qualification match, against Greece in June.  And that means Eriksson is highly unlikely to select him for the warm-up friendly against Mexico in May.

Source Notes

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PY/CG