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Tuesday, 29 March 2011
A Vauxhall International Friendly Match

England 1 Ghana 1 [1-0]
 

The National Stadium, Wembley, Brent, Greater London
Attendance: 80,102; Kick-off: 8.04pm BST;
Live on ITV One (UK) - Commentator: Clive Tyldesley

England - Andy Carroll (twelve-yard shot 43 42:08)
Ghana - Asamoah Gyan (dribble then twelve-yard side-foot shot 90
+1 90:17)
Match Summary
England Squad
Ghana Squad
Results 2010-2015 Ghana - Derek Boateng (61 60:45), André Ayew (63 62:11)
England - James Milner (74
73:20)

England kicked-off. 93 minutes (45:13 & 47:57)
 

Match Summary

Officials from Turkey

England

Type

Ghana

Referee (black) - Cüneyt Çakιr
34 (23 November 1976), İstanbul
, FIFA-listed 2006.

Assistant Referees - Bahattin Duran, 35 (26 September 1975), İstanbul and Tarik Ongun, 38 (3 February 1973), İstanbul

Fourth official - Stuart Steven Atwell, 28 (6 October 1982), Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England.
 
Guest of Honour - Aslie Pitter MBE, founder of Stonewall FC.
 
The FA has chosen to acknowledge the unique role played by Arthur Wharton as an early black pioneer. Sheila Leeson, Wharton's grand-daughter was joined by Cyrille Regis and Brendon Batson as guests of the FA, along with FURD co-ordinator, Howard Holmes.

13 Goal Attempts 11
4 Attempts on Target 4
1 Hit Bar/Post 0
7 Corner Kicks Won 3
2 Offside Calls Against 3
17 Fouls Conceded 20
60.5% Possession 39.5%

England Team

 

Rank:

FIFA (9 March 2011) 6th
EFO ranking Group 3

ELO rating 6th
Colours: The 2010 home uniform - White open-neck jerseys with coloured crosses across upper panel, royal blue shorts, white socks with royal blue tops.
Capt: Gareth Barry, first captaincy Manager: Fabio Capello, 64 (18 June 1946), appointed 14 December 2007, effective 7 January 2008,
36th match, W 24 - D 6 - L 6 - F 79 - A 31.
England Lineup
1 Hart, C. Joseph J. 23 19 April 1987 G Manchester City FC 10 4ᵍᵃ
2 Johnson, Glen M., off 46th min. 26 23 August 1984 RB Liverpool FC 33 1
3 Baines, Leighton J. 26 11 December 1984 LB Everton FC 4 0
4 Barry, Gareth 30 23 February 1981 CM Manchester City FC 46 2
5 Cahill, Gary J. 25 19 December 1985 CD Bolton Wanderers FC 3 0
6 Jagielka, Philip N. 28 17 August 1982 CD/RB Everton FC 9 0
7 Milner, James P. 25 4 January 1986 RM Manchester City FC 18 0
James Milner cautioned in the 74th min. for unsporting behaviour after a foul on Asamoah Gyan.
8 Wilshere, Jack A.G., off 69th min. 19 1 January 1992 LM Arsenal FC 4 0
9 Carroll, Andrew T., off 59th min. 22 6 January 1989 CF Liverpool FC 2 1
10 Young, Ashley S., off 81st min. 25 9 July 1985 LF Aston Villa FC 14 1
11 Downing, Stewart 26 22 July 1984 RF Aston Villa FC 25 0
England Substitutes
scoreline: England 1 Ghana 0
13 Lescott, Joleon P., on 46th min. for Johnson 28 16 August 1982 CD Manchester City FC 13 0
17 Defoe, Jermain C., on 59th min. for Carroll 28 7 October 1982 F Tottenham Hotspur FC 46 15
15 Jarvis, Matthew T., on 69th (68:20) min. for Wilshere 24 22 May 1986 M Wolverhampton Wanderers FC 1 0
16 Welbeck, Daniel N.T.M., on 81st (80:33) min. for Young 20 26 November 1990 F Sunderland AFC, on loan from Manchester United FC 1 0
result: England 1 Ghana 1
unused substitutes: 12-Rob Green, 14-Scott Parker, 18-Peter Crouch, 19-Darren Bent, 20-Scott Carson.
team notes: Jermain Defoe comes on as a substitute for a record 29th occasion.
Gareth Barry and Steven Gerrard have now appeared in twenty of England's 23 home matches at the National Stadium.
Andy Carroll's goal is the 75th goal scored by England on a Tuesday.
Coach Fabio Capello played for Italy against England in June (scoring one) and November 1973 (scoring another), and in May and November 1976.
 
4-3-3 Hart -
Johnson
(Lescott), Jagielka, Cahill, Baines -
Milner, Barry, Wilshere
(Jarvis) -
Downing, Carroll (Defoe), Young (Welbeck).
notes: Jagielka swapped position with Lescott in the second half
Averages (Starting XI): Age 25.0 Appearances/Goals 15.3 0.4

 

Ghana Team

 

Rank:

FIFA (9 March 2011) 16th
EFO ranking Group 2

ELO rating 27th
Colours: Made by Puma - Red crew neck jerseys with yellow stripes/cuffs, red shorts with back yellow hemline, red socks with yellow tops and thin vertical stripe.
Capt: John Mensah Manager: Goran Stevanović Горан Стевановић, 44 (22 November 1966 in Yugoslavia), appointed 10 January 2011,
3rd match, W 2 - D 1 - L 0 - F 8 - A 2
Ghana Lineup
Tallies are taken from out-of-date GhanaWeb & NationalFootballTeams - treat with caution.
22 Kingson, Richard P.F. 32 13 June 1978 G Blackpool FC, England 87 1
17 Addy, Lee, off 46th min. 20 7 July 1990 RB FK Crvena zvezda, Serbia 18 0
3 Gyan, Asamoah 25 22 November 1985 CF Sunderland AFC, England 47 23
4 Paintsil, John 29 15 June 1981 LB Fulham FC, England 66 0
5 Mensah, John 28 29 November 1982 CD Sunderland AFC, England, on loan from Olympique Lyonnais, France 71 0
6 Annan, Anthony G.K., off 46th min. 24 21 July 1986 CM FC Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04, Germany 43 1
15 Vorsah, Isaac, off 46th min. 22 21 June 1988 CD TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, Germany 20 0
8 Agyemang-Badu, Emmanuel 20 2 December 1990 CM Udinese Calcio, Italy 19 0
18 Adiyiah, Dominic, off 69th min. 21 29 November 1989 RM FK Partizan, Serbia, on loan from AC Milan, Italy 11 2
10 Asamoah, Kwadwo, off 84th min. 22 9 December 1988 AM Udinese Calcio, Italy 27 1
11 Muntari, Suleyman A., off 58th min. 26 27 August 1984 LM Sunderland AFC, England, on loan from FC Internazionale Milano, Italy 60 18
Ghana Substitutes
scoreline: England 1 Ghana 0
2 Opare, Daniel T., on 46th min. for Addy 20 18 October 1990 D Royal Standard de Liège, Belgium 2 0
9 Boateng, Derek O., on 46th min. for Annan 27 2 May 1983 M Getafe CF , Spain 24 3
Derek Boateng was cautioned in the 61st minute for ungentlemanly conduct after a high boot into Gareth Barry's face.
19 Mensah, Jonathan, on 46th min. for Vorsah 20 13 July 1990 D Granada CF, Spain, on loan from Udinese Calcio, Italy 11 1
13 Ayew, André M.R., on 58th min. Muntari 21 17 December 1989 M Olympique de Marseille, France 30 2
Andre Ayew cautioned in the 63rd minute for unsporting behaviour after a very late unnecessary challenge on Gary Cahill
12 Tagoe, Prince, on 69th min. for for Adiyiah 24 9 November 1986 F FK Partizan, Serbia, on loan from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, Germany 24 4
7 Inkoom, Samuel, on 84th min. for for Asamoah 21 1 June 1989 D FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine 24 1
result: England 1 Ghana 1
unused substitutes: 1-Sammy Adjei, 14-David Addy, 16-Ernest Sowah, 20-Bernard Kumordzi, 21-Emmanuel Clottey, 25-Nathaniel Asamoah.
 
4-4-2(1-1) Kingson -
Pantsil, John Mensah, Vorsah
(Jonathan Mensah), Addy (Opare) -
Adiyiah
(Tagoe), Annan (Boateng), Agyemang-Badu, Muntari (Ayew) -
Asamoah
(Inkoom) -
Gyan.
Averages (Starting XI): Age  24.4 Appearances/Goals 42.6 4.1

 

    Match Report by Mike Payne

Do you remember the good old days when we had England friendly matches that were played with passion, determination and meaning?  Well this match took us back to those times and was one of the most entertaining friendlies seen at the new Wembley, or the old one for that matter, in a number of years.  Ghana came with huge support and there was a carnival atmosphere as the game kicked off.  England had only four survivors from the match in Wales, so it was a much-changed side that was led out by Gareth Barry, the fifth skipper this season.

Right from the first whistle the game was played at a fierce pace with both sides looking to push forward at every opportunity.  To begin with Ghana looked a little nervous, playing at Wembley for the first time, whilst England, on the other hand, soon settled into their new pass and move style.  Jack Wilshere had the first goal attempt after just three minutes, although the shot was easily saved by goalkeeper Richard Kingson.  Then, out of the blue, Ghana showed how dangerous they could be as Dominic Adiyah beat the offside trap and was one on one with Joe Hart.  England's goalkeeper saved the day though with an excellent block at Adiyah's feet.

Stewart Downing, Ashley Young and James Milner combined well for England's next attack, and the home side were still forcing the pace.  Downing had a great chance when Milner sent him through on goal, but he was on his 'wrong' foot and skewed his shot wide coming in from the right.  He could and should have done better.  Having said that Downing was having an excellent game and always looked dangerous, both in creating chances and also the man on the end of attacks too.  Lovely football by England in the 14th minute then saw Downing set up Young, who put in a terrific curling shot that Kingson did so well to save with a tip over.

The dangerous Asamoah Gyan then tried an outrageous shot from all of 40 yards out, and although it was an easy save from Hart, the keeper certainly knew he had to be on his toes on this night.  In the 24th minute England should have gone ahead.  Milner found Downing on the right and an early cross gave Young the chance.  Inexplicably the Aston Villa player somehow hit the ball up and onto the crossbar from four yards out, with desperate defending then preventing Andy Carroll from reaching the rebound.  A minute later the English pressure continued and Glen Johnson saw his shot deflected away for a corner.

There were some pretty tasty challenges coming in, with England giving away some unnecessary free-kicks.  From one of these Ghana almost scored as Adiyah met the ball at the far post only for Hart to make a brilliant save.

England looked good in midfield with Wilshere again showing his brilliance on the ball.  He is such a confident player and some of his touches were sublime.  He had different partners in midfield this time and although Barry and Milner played well they are not quite as fleet of foot as Wilshere is.  Meanwhile Ghana, roared on by their vociferous support, grew in confidence as the half wore on and they forced a few errors into England's play.  But at this point, slightly against the run of play if anything, England broke the deadlock.  It was just past the 42nd minute mark when Milner found Young, he passed to Downing, and the winger's lovely touch set up the marauding Carroll and bang!  A crashing left-foot shot and the ball was nestling in the far corner of Ghana's net.  A super goal to round off a super first half of football.

Joleon Lescott came on for Johnson at the start of the second half and in the very first minute England came within a whisker of a second goal.  Barry found Wilshere, who then set up Young.  Unfortunately the final shot was just over the bar.  For the next ten minutes play was even and a little scrappy but Ghana still pushed forward and they almost scored when Pantsil's shot was deflected just over by Barry's outstretched foot.  At this point England's defence was all over the place with Lescott struggling and only Gary Cahill holding everything together.  Fabio Capello then made some more changes and for a while the changes started to affect England's shape, but on 61 minutes Milner's fine run and shot was again brilliantly saved by Kingson. 

Some of the challenges were pretty tough and the referee booked two Ghana players for over exuberant tackles.  Two more players made debuts for England when Matt Jarvis and Danny Welbeck came on and Welbeck came very close to a dangerous Leighton Baines cross.  Hart's attempted clearance hit Gyan's outstretched leg and the ball could easily have fired back into the net.  That was two occasions that Hart's concentration had wavered, although overall the keeper had a good game. 

Just as it seemed England had done enough Ghana equalised.  It was the first minute of injury time when Gyan finally found a way through.  Some clever footwork took him past the weak challenge of Lescott and his finish was superb as he scored with his left foot past Hart.  If any Ghana player deserved a goal it was Gyan, who had run his heart out all evening.

To be honest nobody could begrudge the African's equaliser, but there were a lot of positives to be taken from England's performance with Hart, Cahill, Milner, Barry, Young and Downing giving excellent displays to emphasise Capello's growing strength in depth.  And hopefully Andy Carroll's first England goal will by no means be his last.

Source Notes

BBC Sport
TheFA.com
ITV.com/football
GhanaFA & Ghanaweb
RateTheRef.com
Mike Payne - football historian and contributor
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CG