England put five past San Marino but fail to impress

 
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13 October 2012

England 5 - 0 San Marino

If it is possible to win any game by a five-goal margin and yet still be somewhat disappointing, then this was it.

England laboured for long periods against a side ranked 207th and joint last in the world rankings, requiring a Wayne Rooney penalty to break the deadlock before scoring again prior to Danny Welbeck and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain netting to give the scoreline the expected slant.

San Marino had lost their last ten competitive away matches by an aggregate score of 70-0 making 7-0 the par score for England at Wembley.

Yet familiar failings in possession were exposed by a team of part-timers whose ambition extended no further than cowering in front of their own goal. It was a thin blue line and yet England somehow found it devilishly difficult to penetrate.

Games against teams of such palpable limitations are freakish in nature but a late flurry of goals as the visitors tired badly late on could not hide England’s awkward lack of cohesion.

England overcomplicated their play and struggled to move the ball with enough speed for long periods and although three more qualification points were assured, it was hard not to escape the conclusion they will need to improve considerably when facing Poland in Warsaw on Tuesday.

Roy Hodgson opted to rest Ashley Cole after his week in the spotlight following a Football Association charge of improper conduct while James Milner, Joloen Lescott and Jermain Defoe are all one yellow card away from suspension and not risked.

England began brightly as Oxlade-Chamberlain tested Aldo Junior Simoncini from 25 yards before the San Marino goalkeeper clattered Theo Walcott as he bore down on goal.

Walcott resisted the stretcher but came off in the tenth minute looking decidedly groggy. Aaron Lennon – about as like-for-like replacement as is possible – scampered on.

Rooney then headed over Leighton Baines’ corner before Oxlade-Chamberlain again tried his luck from distance. Simoncini did enough to stop it.

Gary Cahill chested the ball down in the box and had his ensuing shot blocked before Rooney wasted the best chance England had created in the first half an hour as he headed wide from Tom Cleverley’s cross.

Then the misfortune began. Carrick rifled a shot from 25 yards that smashed off the crossbar before Welbeck could only turn the rebound onto the post.

Just as thoughts began to gather of the most embarrassing failure imaginable, Simoncini gifted England a presentable chance as he clumsily brought down Welbeck inside the penalty area.

Rooney stepped up to smash home the spot-kick and finally – after 35 increasingly concerning minutes – England were on their way.

Two minutes later Welbeck cutely flicked Lennon’s cross past the hapless Simoncini to score a goal reminiscent but in the shadow of his winning strike against Sweden at Euro 2012.

England were unable to add to their tally until 20 minutes from the end and Ezequiel Rinaldi Danilo even had a chance to join Davide Gualtieri in San Marino’s Hall of Fame with their only shot of the entire game midway through the second half as he raced clear but only succeeded in screwing his shot wide.

Order was restored as Rooney curled home a third from the edge of the box to become England’s fifth highest goalscorer of all-time, moving above Nat Lofthouse, Tom Finney and Alan Shearer, before Cleverley’s cross picked out Welbeck for an easy finish.

After Jonjo Shelvey was handed his senior debut, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored his first senior England goal with a fine curled effort from inside the box

England may have had one eye on surpassing their biggest ever margin of victory 13-0 over Ireland in 1882 – but in the event they failed to set a new record in the new Wembley with their 6-0 defeat of Andorra in 2009.

Nevertheless, England got the job done and that is all that was required. It is just a shame the craftsmanship was shoddy.

England (4-4-2): Hart, Walker, Cahill, Jagielka, Baines; Walcott (Lennon 10), Cleverley, Carrick (Shelvey), Oxlade-Chamberlain; Rooney (Carroll 73), Welbeck.

Goals: Rooney (pen) 35, 70, Welbeck 37, 72, Oxlade-Chamberlain 77.

Subs not used: Cole, Ruddy, Lescott, Shawcross, Milner, A Johnson, Defoe, Forster

San Marino (5-4-1): A Simoncini; F Vitaioli (Bacciocchi 84), Brolli, D Simoncini, Della Valle, Palazzi; Cibelli, Cervellini, Coppini (Buscarini 76), Gasperoni; Danilo (Selva 79).

Subs not used: Valentini, Bollini, Marani, Mazza, Vannucci, M Vitaioli.

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