Match Summary

Austria Team

England Team

England won this friendly international by a single Peter Crouch goal on a freezing cold night against a poor Austria team.  Manager Steve McLaren had a limited squad to choose from with his best striker, Wayne Rooney, injured and both Rio Ferdinand and John Terry missing from the action.  To cap it all Michael Owen was injured in the 32^nd minute and had to go off with a strained thigh muscle.  He will be out for a month.

The game was hugely disappointing with the snow on the ground and the bitterly cold Friday night air having an effect on both teams and both sets of fans.  There was very little pattern to England's play as Joe Cole and Frank Lampard failed to gel in midfield and David Beckham slowing the play down with those long raking passes.  The first incident of note saw the Austrians lose a goalkeeper following a collision with Crouch.  Jurgen Macho went off to be replaced by the former Arsenal goalkeeper Alex Manninger.  Manninger then made his first save when he denied Owen, after good work between Joe Cole and Steven Gerrard.  Owen's shot, in the 32^nd minute was to be his last involvement as he limped off soon afterwards.

Jermain Defoe came on for Owen and in the 43^rd minute England finally made a breakthrough.  Cole's shot was saved and the rebound came out to Crouch, but his follow up was deflected wide.  From the corner, taken by Beckham, Crouch headed the ball in for his 13^th goal for England.

In the second half a swath of substitutions made the play even more disjointed although Crouch came close on 58 minutes, but he squandered a simple chance after substitute Ashley Young crossed perfectly to the big striker.  How Crouch missed that one was a mystery.  Play after that deteriorated, as Austria failed to test Scott Carson and England's tactics baffled everyone.  Neither Gerrard or Lampard played well and after the break Gareth Barry, David Bentley and Alan Smith of Newcastle came on to try and liven things up.  It was difficult to pick out England players for any real praise on the night.  Scott Carson looked comfortable in goal, although it must be said that Austria showed little attacking flair, Bentley looked a lively substitute, and Crouch showed his knack of goalscoring for England yet again.  Unfortunately the England substitutes failed to make much difference and in the end the weather was probably the winner on the night.

England must now go into Wednesday night's vital game with Croatia at Wembley with a few injuries and selection headaches for the manager.  But at least it should be a bit warmer in London!

Source Notes

BBC Sport
TheFA.com
SkySports.com/football
Mike Payne - football historian and contributor
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CG