International Match
at Wembley Stadium
England (1) 3
Daniel Sturridge 32,
Gary Cahill 65,
Phil Jagielka 70
Peru (0) 0
Attendance 83,578
Left click images below to enlarge
Click this LINK for a few more pictures
Hart, Johnson, Cahill, Jagielka (Smalling 73), Baines (Stones 75), Gerrard (Wilshere 64), Henderson; Welbeck, Rooney (Sterling 66), Lallana; Sturridge (Barkley 82).
Peru:
Fernandez; Advincula (Velarde 78), Callens, Ramos, (Riojas 68) Rodriguez, Yotun; Deza (Ruidaz 66), Ballon, Cruzado, Carrillo (Flores 86), Ramirez (Hurtado 59)
Long term hope and optimism springs eternal, short term positivity, curbed by an healthy dose of realism that there is still a hell of a lot of work to be done until England can stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Holland, Italy, Spain and the ever emerging Belgium (yes! Belgium), made for a so far, so good atmosphere at tonight's send off party.
Well, for the record, England don't just play every four years ... and anybody who has been really keeping an eye on the progress of this current squad will already know, that there is a quiet (but very thorough) revolution taking place, right now ... but these things take time to incubate before they're hatched.
The enemy within, fifth columnists and critics are already sharpening the edges of their 'wit' in readiness to pour scorn on England when they don't win every (or any) game.
Shut the fuck up guys! Your well rehearsed invective is so formulated, affected and predictable, it speaks volumes for the kind of pathetic attention seeking sad individual you are and projects your persona far more accurately than it reflects what is currently happening to the England team set up.
The new answer to time honoured question of 'Gerrard or Lampard?' (which is still about as relevant as 'Do you prefer Blur or Oasis?') is ... Jordan Henderson, capiche!?
Expectations are not unrealistically high this time round, so the World Cup tournament is a great chance to rip it up and start again, towards longer term goals.
Or is that too bleedin' obvious for some people to understand?
Roy Hodgson knows what he's doing ... I just hope he is allowed to see the sterling job he's doing through to it's fruition, however long it takes.
I'm happy that tangible progress that is being made throughout the ranks of 'Team England', far sooner than I ever anticipated it possibly could ever be (if at all) and the carnival mood at tonight's game, in marked contrast to the night England players were booed and ridiculed after they had come home from South Africa four years ago, is testament to the fact that I'm not alone in thinking that way.
BBC Sport
The Guardian
Daily Mail
THE66POW will be back after the World Cup (or even sooner).
And hopefully all of the technical issues that have blighted the vainglorious task of keeping the blog up to date at times over the last couple of seasons are sorted out now.
I'm also quietly confident that I'll have more opportunity to maintain the site properly in future too.
Only time will tell, eh!?
