England overcame a slow start to defeat Andorra 2-0 in their opening World Cup qualifier.
Andorra make Capello's men work for 2-0 victory
England overcame a slow start to defeat Andorra 2-0 in their opening World Cup qualifier.
Fabio Capello's first competitive match in charge appeared easy on paper but Andorra made their esteemed opponents work hard for all three points.
England were jeered off the pitch when they failed to break down Andorra's backline 18 months ago and the supporters were again unhappy as history repeated itself.
England created chances in the first 45 minutes but it was not until the introduction of Joe Cole at half-time that they began to find any fluency.
The Chelsea schemer volleyed home the opener after 49 minutes and then added a second six minutes later to weaken Andorra's resolve.
England were unable to build on their advantage and Capello will demand a much-improved performance against Croatia on Wednesday.
Hungry Walcott
Capello made four changes from the side held 2-2 at home by Czech Republic, the most significant of which was to leave out David Beckham after starting him in the previous four friendlies.
Whether this is a major statement of intent for the future by Capello will only become clear if the Los Angeles Galaxy star, who came on as an 80th-minute substitute for Frank Lampard, is omitted for the Croatian showdown.
In the stadium where Linford Christie had won Olympic gold in the 100 metres in 1992, Capello introduced his own super sprinter down the right flank in Theo Walcott.
Walcott looked hungry and relishing his first England start - more than two years after being a shock inclusion in Sven Goran Eriksson's squad for the 2006 World Cup finals - but he faded after a bright start.
Mood change
The atmosphere among the 10,000 England fans at kick-off time was in sharp contrast to the negative vibes aimed at Steve McClaren and his players when the sides clashed in the same stadium last March in a Euro 2008 qualifier.
But this mood had changed before the interval and the players left the pitch to a crescendo of boos and cries of "what a load of rubbish" from the fans in the top tier of the one stand - and it needed Joe Cole to change that with his one-two blast.
For all their possession, England had only a couple of half-chances to show for their efforts and failed to produce a single on-target effort in the opening 45 minutes.
Walcott found Wayne Rooney, without an international goal for 11 months, in some space just inside the Andorran box and he would have been disappointed not to have at least hit the target as his left-footed drive flew over the bar.
Lampard reacted quickly on the edge of the Andorran penalty area and his well struck shot on the turn flew only a yard wide with goalkeeper Koldo scrambling across his goal-line.
But that was the sum of England's first-half threat despite having 81 per cent of possession against a side who operated with Fernando Silva as their only striker.
Too often they were guilty of some woeful crossing into the Andorran box with Stewart Downing a major culprit.
Clinical finish
It was no surprise that he was replaced by Cole for the second half with Capello also bringing on Emile Heskey in place of Jermain Defoe to partner Rooney.
Silva was yellow-carded for bringing down Glen Johnson - and from the free-kick by Lampard, England broke the deadlock after 49 minutes.
Joleon Lescott was first to react to the ball into the box by the Chelsea midfielder and, when it was turned back across the box, Cole was ideally placed to volley home in clinical fashion.
Six minutes later Cole struck for the second time. Gareth Barry and Rooney were involved in the build-up before the Chelsea man's first-time effort beat Koldo's dive.
The tension had been eased and Johnson thought he had added a third with a fierce low drive only for Cole to have strayed offside.
| Andorra |
Team Statistics |
England |
| 0 |
Goals |
2 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 0 |
Shots on Target |
3 |
| 1 |
Shots off Target |
9 |
| 0 |
Blocked Shots |
6 |
| 1 |
Corners |
7 |
| 14 |
Fouls |
27 |
| 0 |
Offsides |
1 |
| 3 |
Yellow Cards |
0 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 53.8 |
Passing Success |
88.3 |
| 26 |
Tackles |
13 |
| 69.2 |
Tackles Success |
92.3 |
| 21 |
Possession |
79 |
| 24.3 |
Territorial Advantage |
75.7 |
|
