Top > Sport > 2006 > September > 2006-09-04

England Crushes Andorra, Italy Stutters

Steve McClaren`s England is unstoppable, at the moment. The new coach has changed the way and look of the team, and it seems that the change is for the good. After winning their first international match, England has crushed Andorra in the first round of Euro 2008`s qualifying stage. The entire English attack formation participating in the five-nil victory. Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe both scored two goals each and Steven Gerrard finished it for England.

What an open for England. After their World Cup 2006 disappointment, and the criticism from in about McClaren`s changes and the fact that David Beckham is not part of the national team, the performance shown by McClaren`s squad is exactly what the team needed. Although Andorra is not considered to be a rival of the same magnitude, it is still a good sign that shows that there are great things waiting for England in Euro 2008.

In other Euro 2008`s qualifications news, Italy`s performance was less brilliant. The new World Champions did not seem to demonstrate their true ability and drew a 1-1 tie with Lithuania. This was Italy`s first international match after their glorious win at Germany 2006, but apparently, the match-fixing scandal that Italy`s soccer community is undergoing affected the players, and their performance was stuttering.