England v Hungary Review

Posted by Cathal Breathnach on August 12, 2010 | No Comments

With many people eagerly looking forward to the start of the Premiership season on Saturday and football betting sites vying with each other to give the best odds on who will win the title this season, football fans could be forgiven for dismissing this friendly game as a pointless exercise that would serve little purpose. As it turned out the game did offer some clues as to the intentions of Fabio Capello and what he intends to do to restore England’s fortunes after the World Cup nightmare.

In front of a crowd of 72,000 at Wembley, it was good to see Capello’s men begin the process of redeeming themselves after the pain and disappointment of the South Africa. It was a pretty bumpy ride to begin with as some England players were booed by supporters in the first half which ended in a goalless deadlock. The second half saw things begin to improve although Hungary took the lead in the 62nd minute with a controversial goal. Phil Jagielka turned a cross from Vladimir Koman into his own net and although the television replay appeared to show that Michael Dawson had cleared it off the line, referee Stephane Lannoy allowed the goal to stand. Further grounds for bringing in goal line technology many an England fan must have been thinking.

With calamity staring them in the face, England found redemption thanks to a knight in shining armour. That knight was Steven Gerrard who rescued England with two fantastic goals in the space of four minutes. The England captain was in inspired form and he put in a great knights work that gave England the cutting edge that they needed.

Online betting websites are giving odds of 9/1 on England to win the Euro 2012 Tournament – as they are in Group G they will be playing Bulgaria, Montenegro, Switzerland and Wales. First up is Bulgaria who will be visiting Wembley on the third of September. On the evidence of last night’s performance there is still a lot of work for Capello to do. It should not be taken for granted that England will qualify from their group although it has to be said that there are far tougher groups that England could have landed in.

With his choice of players Capello clearly signalled that he wants to bring in new blood. He brought Everton’s Phil Jagielka back into the side and there were debuts for Bobby Zamora, Kieran Gibbs and Michael Dawson. The appearance of Joe Hart in goal was another welcome change. Even before the game had kicked off the England manager had given an indication that the focus would be on building a squad for the Euro 2012 competition when he mentioned that David Beckham was now probably too old to play for England.

We will know a lot more about England’s prospects for Euro 2012 after the Bulgaria game next month – you can bet that that will tell us a great deal about the chances of the Three Lions reaching the final stages of the tournament in Poland and the Ukraine.

This article was written by Totesport for Football Corner.

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