England Football Online
  Page Last Updated 15 October 2009

Беларусь

 

 
 879 vs. Ukraine
880
881 vs. Brazil

Wednesday, 14 October 2009
2010 FIFA World Cup UEFA Group 6 qualification match

England 3 Belarus 0 [1-0]

 

The National Stadium, Wembley, Brent, Greater London
Attendance
: 76,897;
Kick-off: 8.00pm BST;  
Live on ITV One (UK) - Commentator: Clive Tyldesley

England - Peter Crouch (sliding tap-in 4 3:05, rebounded five-yard tap-in 75 74:57), Shaun Wright-Phillips (twenty-yard deflected shot 59 59:00). Match Summary
England Squad

Belarus Squad
Results 2005-2010 Belarus - Sergei Kornilenko (54).

England kicked-off. 93 minutes (46 & 47).
 

Match Summary

Officials from Portugal

England

Type

Belarus

Referee (charcoal) - Lucílio Cardoso Cortez Batista
44 (26 April 1965), Lisboa, FIFA-listed 1996.

Assistant Referees - João Ferreira dos Santos, 40 (5 November 1968), Porto and Venancio Raposo, 35 (1 October 1974).

Fourth official - Paulo Costa, 44 (2 December 1964), FIFA-listed 1999.

14 Goal Attempts 4
7 Attempts on Target 3
2 Hit Bar/Post 0
8 Corner Kicks Won 3
2 Offside Calls Against 0
18 Fouls Conceded 18
48.2 Possession 51.8

England Team

 

Rank:

FIFA (2nd Sept 2009) 7th
EFO ranking Group 2

ELO rating 4th
Colours: The 2009 home uniform - Plain white collared jerseys, plain white shorts, plain white socks.
Capt: John Terry, 28th captaincy Manager: Fabio Capello, 63 (18 June 1946), appointed 14 December 2007, effective 7 January 2008, 
20th match, W 15 - D 2 - L 3 - F 53 - A 16.
England Lineup
1 Foster, Ben A. 26 3 April 1983 G Manchester United FC  3 1 ᵍᵃ
2 Johnson, Glen M. 25 23 August 1984 RB Liverpool FC 20 0
3 Bridge, Wayne M., off 78th min. 29 5 August 1980 LB Manchester City FC 35 1
4 Barry, Gareth 28 23 February 1981 CM Manchester City FC 34 2
5 Ferdinand, Rio G. 30 7 November 1978 CD Manchester United FC 76 2
6 Terry, John G. 28 7 December 1980 CD Chelsea FC 58 6
7 Lennon, Aaron J., off 58th min. 22 16 April 1987 RM Tottenham Hotspur FC 15 0
8 Lampard, Frank J. 31 20 June 1978 CM Chelsea FC 76 19
9
Crouch, Peter J. 28 30 January 1981 F Tottenham Hotspur FC 35 18
the 334th (201st post-war) brace scored
10 Agbonlahor, Gabriel I., off 66th min. 23 13 October 1986 F Aston Villa FC 3 0
11 Wright-Phillips, Shaun C.  27 25 October 1981 LM Manchester City FC 28 5
England Substitutes
scoreline: England 1 Belarus 0
17 Beckham, David R.J., on 58th min. for Lennon 34 2 May 1975 RM LA Galaxy, United States. 115 17
scoreline: England 2 Belarus 0
18 Cole, Carlton M.G., on 66th min. for Agbonlahor 25 12 November 1983 F West Ham United FC 6 0
scoreline: England 3 Belarus 0
15 Milner, James P., on 78th min. for Bridge 23 4 January 1986 LB Aston Villa FC 5 0
result: England 3 Belarus 0

unused substitutes:

12-Joe Hart, 13-Matthew Upson, 14-Ashley Cole, 16-Michael Carrick.   

team notes: Steven Gerrard has missed an England match at the National Stadium for the first time since August 2007, a record thirteen thirteen matches. It means that Gareth Barry now equals his record appearance tally of fourteen, just one ahead of Frank Lampard.
Coach Fabio Capello played for Italy against England in June (scoring one) and November 1973 (scoring another), and in May and November 1976.
 
4-4-2  Foster -
Johnson, Ferdinand, Terry, Bridge
(Milner) -
Lennon
(Beckham), Lampard, Barry, Wright-Phillips -
Crouch, Agbonlahor
(C Cole).

Averages (Starting XI):

Age 26.9 Appearances/Goals 34.8 5.1

 

Belarus Team

 

Rank:

FIFA (2nd Sept 2009) 77th
EFO ranking n/a

ELO rating =64th
Colours: Made by Puma - Red v-neck jerseys with black trimmed collar/cuffs, olive green shorts, olive green socks with white thin hoop.
Capt: Aliaksandr Kulchiy Manager: Bernd Walter Stange, 61 (14 March 1948 in Germany), appointed 30 July 2007;
22nd match, W 9 - D 4 - L 9 - F 38 - A 30.
Belarus Lineup
12 Zhevnov, Yuri 28 17 April 1981 G FK Moskva, Russia 36 0
2 Kulchiy, Aliaksandr 35
348 days
1 November 1973 DM FC Rostov, Russia 83 5
16 Shytov, Igor 22 24 October 1986 RB FC BATE Borisov 12 1
4 Kalachev, Timofei 28 1 May 1981 RM PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara, Russia 41 7
5 Yurevićh, Aleksandr 30 9 August 1979 LB FC BATE Borisov 19 0
18 Verkhovtsov, Dmitry 23 10 October 1986 CD FC Naftan Novopolotsk 12 2
7 Omelyanchuk, Sergei 29 8 August 1980 DM FC Terek Grozny, Russia 57 1
8 Kornilenko, Sergei, off 76th min. 26 14 June 1983 CF FC Zenit Saint-Petersburg, Russia 37 9
Kornilenko cautioned in the 54th min. for unsporting behaviour for a late tackle on Wright-Phillips.
17 Sosnovsky, Sergey 28 14 August 1981 CD FC BATE Borisov 9 0
13 Kutuzov, Vitali, off 46th min. 29 20 March 1980 AM AS Bari, Italy 49 13
14 Bordachev, Maxim, off 84th min. 23 18 June 1986 LM FC BATE Borisov 5 1
Belarus Substitutes
scoreline: England 1 Belarus 0
15 Rodionov, Vitali, on 46th min. for Kutuzov.  25 11 December 1983 F FC BATE Borisov 15 2
scoreline: England 3 Belarus 0
9 Kovel, Leonid, on 76th min. for Kornilenko 23 29 July 1986 M FC Saturn Moskovskaya Oblast, Russia 14 4
3 Kashevski, Nikolai, on 84th min. for Bordachev 29 5 October 1980 M FC Illychivets Mariupol, Ukraine 13 0
result: England 3 Belarus 0

unused substitutes:

1-Anton Amelchenko, 6-Dmitry Lentsevićh, 10-Filipp Rudic, 11-Sergei Kryvets. 

 
4-2-3-1 Zhevnov -
Shytov, Verkhovstov, Sosnovsky, Yurevićh -
Kulchiy, Omelyanchuk -
Kalachev, Kutuzov
(Rodionov), Bordachev (Kashevski) -
Kornilenko
(Kovel)

Averages (Starting XI):

Age 27.4 Appearances/Goals 32.7 3.5

 

 

Match Report by Mike Payne

England closed out their qualifying campaign with an emphatic victory over Belarus at Wembley.  There were some good individual performances and as a team England played solidly and effectively to win their group by six clear points.

The first half began in a perfect way as Shaun Wright-Phillips shot just wide as early as the second minute before England then scored in the fourth minute.  A tremendous through ball by the impressive Gareth Barry sent Gaby Agbonlahor scampering down the left and his low cross into the middle was bundled home by Peter Crouch.  Once again Crouch had scored for England and his record now is becoming exceptional as he rarely fails to find the target when he starts a game, that's six goals in his last six starts.  But Barry was the player missed most by England against Ukraine in the previous game, and here at Wembley he was always intercepting, tackling and using the ball well, giving a masterclass of midfield play.

Actually the goal was not good for the game, or for the neutral spectator, as for most of the first half play became scrappy as England strolled through it in total command.  Belarus were a neat and tidy team and all their players were comfortable in possession.  What they lacked was punch up front and England's defenders had very few alarms.  The only concern was a couple of times when the visitors were in behind Glen Johnson, although to be fair to the Liverpool player, his speed of recovery got him out of trouble on those occasions.

Rio Ferdinand hardly put a foot wrong as he looked determined to answer his critics with a calm and careful performance, and John Terry and Wayne Bridge completed a solid back line.  On 11 minutes Frank Lampard had a free-kick blocked and then three minutes later Crouch should have done better with a header from Lampard's cross.  But the next clear chance fell to Agbonlahor on 21 minutes, after Barry's fine interception and long pass sent the Aston Villa striker away again.  He bore down on goal but goalkeeper Yury Zhevnov did well to block the shot.

Play was confined to the midfield for long spells but an Aaron Lennon quick throw almost set up Johnson although his marauding run ended with a miss-hit shot wide of goal.  It was Barry, again, who made an important interception when Vitaly Kutuzov almost broke through and it was not until the 37th minute that Belarus had a shot on target, Sergei Omelyanchuk low drive being well held by Ben Foster.  The half ended when a fine move involving Johnson and Lennon, gave Crouch a chance but unfortunately the latter could not direct his header on target.

The second half began with the match needing a lift and four minutes after the restart Lampard's free-kick was tipped over by Zhevnov.  But the game was in danger of drifting, until that is a certain David Beckham was introduced to the action.  He replaced Lennon on 58 minutes and his first kick created a goal.  He took a corner short to Wright-Phillips, who cut inside and hit a low shot past the keeper.  Talk about an impact substitution!  Despite the weird beard sported by the LA Galaxy player, the class of one of England's finest players was soon in evidence as he sprayed some trademark passes around the pitch.  This was the lift England needed and they improved even more as the game went on.

However, on 64 minutes goalkeeper Foster had his big moment with a stunning save from Omelyanchuk's fierce shot on the run.  It was an important moment for the young Manchester United stopper and it will do his confidence no harm at all.  That was to prove Belarus' best chance as England took a firm grip in the last fifteen minutes.  Carlton Cole and James Milner came on as substitutes and both made good contributions.  In the 75th minute England scored again.  Once more it was Barry making the important tackle as he won possession and then sent Cole away down the right.  Cole powered towards goal and hit a fierce shot that the keeper parried, but Crouch, who had a super game, followed up to score from the rebound.

The final excitement came three minutes from the end when fine passing from Beckham, Lampard and Wright-Phillips put Milner in, and after a fine shimmy his shot beat the keeper but came back off the far post.  Seconds later Beckham was in and almost scored his first goal at Wembley, but just dragged his shot a little and it hit the other post as the Belarus goal led a charmed life.

It was a convincing win in the end for England and to win their qualifying group by six clear points says a lot about the campaign they have waged.  All they have to do now is carry that form on in South Africa next year.  Easy Peasy!

Source Notes

BBC Sport
Football.by
FIFA.com
ITV.com/football
Mike Payne - football historian and contributor

____________________

CG