Stuart Pearce’s side battled their way to within touching distance of next summer’s European Championship finals.
Daniel Sturridge’s superbly taken first-half goal leaves England needing to beat Lithuania in Colchester on Tuesday to almost certainly book a qualifying play-off for next season’s tournament in Denmark.
Pearce chose not to start with Arsenal youngster Jack Wilshere, who made his senior England debut last month.
But Manchester United’s shock £7m signing Bebe picked up his first Under-21 cap for Portugal.
David Simao had the first effort for the hosts eight minutes in but his long-range strike flew well over the bar.
The cagey opening to a game both sides needed to win was summed up 24 minutes in when England keeper Frank Fielding was booked for time wasting.
England should have gone ahead just after that when Danny Welbeck tapped in Kyle Walker’s cross – only for the flag to be incorrectly raised for offside.
But they snatched the winner on 32 minutes when highly-rated midfielder Tom Cleverley played in Sturridge and the Chelsea man chipped keeper Rui Patricio.
Bebe was largely disappointing for the home side but he tested Fielding for the first time with a shot in the 65th minute that the Blackburn man beat away.
Portugal then began to crank up the pressure but England held firm to pick up all three vital points.
Daniel Sturridge’s superbly taken first-half goal leaves England needing to beat Lithuania in Colchester on Tuesday to almost certainly book a qualifying play-off for next season’s tournament in Denmark.
Pearce chose not to start with Arsenal youngster Jack Wilshere, who made his senior England debut last month.
But Manchester United’s shock £7m signing Bebe picked up his first Under-21 cap for Portugal.
David Simao had the first effort for the hosts eight minutes in but his long-range strike flew well over the bar.
The cagey opening to a game both sides needed to win was summed up 24 minutes in when England keeper Frank Fielding was booked for time wasting.
England should have gone ahead just after that when Danny Welbeck tapped in Kyle Walker’s cross – only for the flag to be incorrectly raised for offside.
But they snatched the winner on 32 minutes when highly-rated midfielder Tom Cleverley played in Sturridge and the Chelsea man chipped keeper Rui Patricio.
Bebe was largely disappointing for the home side but he tested Fielding for the first time with a shot in the 65th minute that the Blackburn man beat away.
Portugal then began to crank up the pressure but England held firm to pick up all three vital points.
No comments:
Post a Comment