England 3 v Peru 0 - International Match

Friday 30th May 2014
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

England:
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)

England's last game on home turf before they jet off to the World Cup in Brazil, via two warm up games in Miami, was enjoyed by a partisan crowd of 83, 578, who came to celebrate the end of the season and a successful qualification campaign, by a Roy Hodgson (re)built England side, who are still very much a 'work in progress' ongoing project, that is nowhere near the finished article that would be required to get anywhere within a sniff of the later stages of the forthcoming tournament.
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.

Sadly, that time will soon be upon us, when every single football 'expert' in the country, will be out in force, astounding everyone within earshot with their bullshit opinions.
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.

England won't win the World Cup in Brazil, they might not even get out of the group stages, but I'm hopeful that the encouragingly high number of the emerging players will be given the chance to shine on the world stage and get some all important tournament experience under their belts, in preparation for future campaigns ... and that the old guard are just travelling to Rio, to make the odd cameo appearance. They've had their time and deserve their plaudits, but time and evolution waits for no man.
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.

Tonight's match reports:
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!?