England 5-0 San Marino

The weekend has begun. But this isn’t like most weekends; usually many of us would book our seat on the sofa, or our table at a bar in advance for today and Sunday’s football. This however is international week, a time when a group of individuals shroud themselves in that beautiful England shirt.

The team lineup was surprisingly strong considering the San Marino have lost 54 competitive matches in a row and haven’t even scored a goal in the last four years. Rooney featured, along with Carrick, Welbeck and Walcott. The bench, however, wasn’t very strong but Ashley Cole managed to make it on there after the recent bust ups he has been involved in.

England fans jumping for joy at Wembley stadium

The first major incident came right on the five minute mark when Theo Walcott burst through on goal only to be rugby tackled by a scrambling goal keeper. Needless to say he didn’t last very long and was replaced shortly after by Aaron Lennon.

England created some nice flowing football and always tried to keep San Marino guessing, the end product just wasn’t quite there at first. Simoncini made a few saves early on as England continued to probe but lacked penetration. England fought and fought but where always trying to get through 11 men in defence.  Luck deserted England on the half hour mark when Carrick struck a thunderous shot that beat the keeper but hit the woodwork, which was followed up by Danny Welbeck who also managed to hit the post. It looked like it would be one of those nights until Welbeck won a penalty, which was converted by Rooney, before Welbeck himself managed to score a goal reminiscent of his effort against Sweden in the Euros seven minutes later.

The match ended 5-0 after Rooney and Welbeck each scored another, and Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain managed to get one him self. Although the score line might suggest it, it was not a game full of entertainment and thrills. San Marino managed to get one sniff at a chance but that was the only time they even touched the ball in England’s half of the pitch. England had 86% of the possession for the whole game, which is unknown territory for them. But in the end they got the three points and put in an adequate performance.

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