World cup qualification for next years tournament in South Africa ended tonight. For England that meant the unusual feature of England playing a largely meaningless final tie against Belarus at Wembley, having already qualified last month against Croatia.
Having lost in Ukraine last week-end there was some added pressure for some players (Rio Ferdinand?) as to lose two games on the trot would make Capello a very unhappy man and that is not something that I would wish to experience.
It also meant that some of the "fringe" players could play, a fact helped by injuries to Gerrard and Rooney. So Crouch, Agbonlahor, Lennon & Bridge all got a game and with 35 minutes left Beckham came on. At that stage we were 1-0 up from a very early Crouch goal. It finished 3-0 and Beckham made us look a much better team, having a hand in both goals and hitting the post with a shot.
What did we learn tonight...not a lot. Will we win the World Cup..... maybe? Next year? Who knows, it'll be winter in South Africa next June/July, so maybe the weather will help us. We can but hope.
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