England 2 Uruguay 1: Crouch walks tall amid mediocrity to reward England's rousing finale
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Your support makes all the difference.The Brazilians, Sven Goran Eriksson said later, have probably never seen anything like him. Argentina and now Uruguay, for all their ancient football heritage, would have to agree. The long, angular shadow of Peter Crouch has now thrown two South American defences into disarray and last night he salvaged victory from an England performance that threatened, at times, to throw their whole World Cup hopes into chaos.
For 49 long minutes, England trailed Uruguay by Omar Pouso's 26th minute goal until first Crouch, on as a substitute, equalised before Joe Cole snatched a winner deep into injury time. It was the Liverpool forward, a replacement for Wayne Rooney after the hour, who first jumped at the back post to head the equaliser above a Uruguay defence who had more problems in the last 15 minutes than they had endured for the rest of the match. Against Argentina in November, Crouch orchestrated the comeback, last night he took centre stage.
Anfield's £7m signing can now have no doubt that he will be sliding those big feet under the seat in front of him on the England squad's flight to Germany in June. For Darren Bent, making his debut last night, there is much less certainty. The Charlton striker had one chance, three minutes before the end of the first half which he dashed wide and his departure on 82 minutes, to be replaced by Jermain Defoe, is surely the last we will see of Bent unless Eriksson decides to take five strikers to Germany.
On the details of his squad, Eriksson approaches resolution but in the fundamentals of his team's performance there were times last night when it seemed that he may have to start again. In the first half England collapsed to their dreary, unimaginative worst - a period when all the hallmarks of this team in crisis could be identified: a bad challenge from David Beckham, a lapse of concentration from Rio Ferdinand, the increasing desperation of Wayne Rooney to involve himself in a meaningful passage of play.
When they rescue games like this it becomes almost impossible to assess where this England team stand as they begin the final approach to this summer in Germany. For 75 minutes at least, the assessment was simple: they were not good enough to beat South America's fifth-best team, never mind Brazil. And then they proved themselves once again a team of resilience. Cole, in particular, was a marauding, confident presence in the closing stages who played with the conviction he lacked in the first half.
The injury to Wayne Bridge, sustained by the left-back in the 28th minute, was bad news, given Ashley Cole's breakdown on Monday, but even the sight of him being carried off could not drag the thoughts away from an occasionally pitiful England performance.
It got worse when Omar Pouso's sweet, dipping volley looped over Paul Robinson's head in the 26th minute which elicited a light smattering of applause. Two minutes later, Bridge chased Diego Perez down the right wing and collided heavily with the advancing Paul Robinson to the extent that Bridge was flipped mid-air and landed on his back.
Bridge left Anfield on crutches, which meant that Paul Konchesky took another significant stride towards the squad for Germany last night and, although no one would doubt his Premiership attributes, the West Ham left-back is no international footballer.
Beckham was also booked for a clumsy challenge on 44 minutes on the same player. The England captain's contribution had been negligible in the first half, his single chance to shine coming on 23 minutes when Cole's throughball put him in the clear. With one eye on the rapidly advancing Fabio Carini, Beckham's limp lob bounced wide.
Pouso's goal was an antidote to the poverty of attacking football. Gary Neville had been exposed by Mario Regueiro down the right and from the corner John Terry muscled his way through to launch a header towards the edge of the area. Without pausing, Pouso, a tidy holding midfielder, launched his shot beyond Robinson's reach.
The Chelsea captain almost stole an equaliser when he surged through the middle, swapped passes with Bent, and had his shot brushed wide by Carini. For the Charlton striker, this was not the happiest of debuts. Whoever Eriksson takes, there will be no doubt now that, after Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney, Crouch will be his first alternative.
Rooney tried hard to drag England back into contention before he and Beckham were withdrawn with 25 minutes remaining. By then Robinson had saved well from Perez to prevent an even more disastrous scoreline.
The difference was made in the end by Cole, whose influence down the left had grown and, on 75 minutes, he dragged the ball back on to his right foot before crossing for Crouch to head home at the back post.
Shaun Wright-Phillips, who had replaced Rooney, was positive and it was he who made Cole's late winner. A low ball from the right allowed the Chelsea man to dash in and score at the near post with Carini stranded.
It was the fourth consecutive England victory in a run that goes all the way back to the defeat to Northern Ireland in Belfast in September. There were times last night when the horror of that game crept back into the memory and England have one man above all to thank for banishing them. Crouch is not the most sophisticated Plan B, but increasingly he is proving the most effective.
England (4-4-2): Robinson (Tottenham); G Neville (Man United), Terry (Chelsea), Ferdinand (Man United), Bridge (Chelsea); Beckham (Real Madrid), Gerrard (Liverpool), Carrick (Tottenham), Cole (Chelsea); Rooney (Man United), Bent (Charlton). Substitutes used: Carragher (Liverpool) for Bridge, 31; King (Tottenham) for Terry, h-t; Jenas (Tottenham) for Gerrard, h-t; Wright-Phillips (Chelsea) for Beckham, 64; Crouch (Liverpool) for Rooney, 64; Defoe (Tottenham) for Bent, 82.
Uruguay (4-4-2): Carini (Cagliari); Diogo (Real Madrid), Lugano (Sao Paulo), Godin (Cerro), Lima (Danubio); Perez (Monaco), Pouso (Penarol), Vargas (Gimnasia), Varela (Schalke); Regueiro (Valencia), Forlan (Villarreal). Substitutes used: Viera (gk, Villarreal) for Carini, h-t; Pereira (Sporting) for Vargas, 77; Martinez (Montivideo) for Regueiro, 84; Medina (Cadiz) for Forlan, 87; Gonzalez (Danubio) for Perez, 88.
Referee: S Farina (Italy).
Countdown to Germany
MONDAY 15 MAY Fifa deadline for World Cup finalists to name their squads (could be extended)
TUESDAY 30 MAY England v Hungary (Old Trafford)
SATURDAY 3 JUNE England v Jamaica
FRIDAY 9 JUNE World Cup finals begin
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