Match Summary

England Team

Ghana Team

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 14^th 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 24^th 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 42^nd 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