Beckham Returns England Win

I didn’t realise how long it had been since I last posted! Must have been an “end of season / Champions League” hangover type of thing!

Anyway, David Beckham….remember him? Steve McClaren does now because Beckham basically inspired England to a comfortable win over Estonia in Tallinn last night in their latest Euro08 qualifier and in so doing eased the pressure a little bit on the national manager.

However it was the Chelsea man Joe Cole broke the deadlock on 36 minutes when he chested down and turned on a Peter Crouch flick on at the near post. The shot, on the half volley, was clean and true and went in off the inside of the upright. Relief for England, their fans and most importantly for McClaren.

Peter Crouch then doubled England’s lead eight minutes after the break. He met a superb Beckham cross to head the ball back past Mark Poom. It was again Beckham, who appeared to be playing through the pain barrier at this point with an ankle injury, who then provided another excellent cross, this time for Michael Owen to steer the ball into the net with the outside of his right leg.

England were 3-0 up and home and dry. However you have to say that the game was probably over at 1-0 as Estonia, even though they played far more adventurously and better than Andorra did, they never looked like scoring really. They were very resilient and defended as if their lives depended on it but as an attacking option they were really non-existent. Until the last minute that is! They almost claimed their first goal of the qualifying campaign but John Terry cleared off the line from Tarmo Kink. Although he was inches away from putting the ball into his own net in the process. His clearance only just missed the post.

This display won’t set the world alight and have other countries worrying too much but it was a professional one from England and it that sets them up nicely for the crucial qualifying games against Croatia and Russia later this year.

And as well as Beckham confirming his return to the international stage before limping off with that ankle injury, Owen must also be extremely delighted to be back on the score sheet for England after being out of the England set-up for nearly a year after the injury he sustained in last year’s World Cup.

It must be said that Beckham was a major source of danger, despite struggling after twisting an ankle early on. As well as producing those two fine crosses, he also created confusion in the Estonia area in the 28th minute, keeper Mart Poom palming out his free-kick to Owen, but the striker was unable to turn home the rebound. He was replaced by Kieron Dyer on 67 minutes to an ovation from the England fans and that must have felt very good indeed.

The only other downside on England’s night was a late booking for Crouch which rules him out of the qualifier with Israel at Wembley in September. But then again, you could say that Crouch was probably only in the starting line-up here because Rooney had a one match suspension. Although McClaren, I’m sure won’t be happy that he won’t even be available as a sub. It was a stupid and needless booking and Crouch should have known better.

So a satisfactory evening for England. It was really one of those “can’t win” evening really. They were of course expected to win, so when they do, it’s simply a job well done but if they had struggled and drawn or even lost, they would have been pilloried and I suspect Steve McClaren would now be clearly out his desk. At least some good would have come out of it then!

For all the latest news on David Beckham please review the following links. I update these news items on Beckham on a daily basis for you or whenever there is a new story about him, which let’s face it is rather often! …..
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Many thanks
Rik