Match Summary

Netherlands Team

England Team

It is a difficult time to arrange a friendly international, just three days before the new Premiership season gets underway, but manager Fabio Capello needed this get together.  Next month England continue their quest for World Cup qualification so this match in Amsterdam was important for many reasons, not least to obtain a form guide for his players.  As it turned out it was a very good game.

The first half was end to end open play and there was plenty of bite in the tackles, but from the start some of the England's players were guilty of sloppy and lazy play.  Several times a poor pass gave possession away cheaply and as early as the 10^th minute it cost England a goal.  Rio Ferdinand gained possession on the right of goal and tried to play the ball back to Rob Green.  Unfortunately it was badly executed and Dirk Kuyt was quick to seize the chance of an interception.  Green at first drove him wide of goal but Kuyt still had time to pull the ball back inside the sprawling keeper before drilling a low shot in at the near post.  John Terry made a valiant attempt to block the shot but failed.  Ferdinand held his hand up to the error and it must be said that he looked off the pace at times.

The England's players were guilty of sloppy and lazy play.  Several times a poor pass gave possession away cheaply and as early as the 10^th minute it cost England a goal.  Rio Ferdinand gained possession on the right of goal and tried to play the ball back to Rob Green.  Unfortunately it was badly executed and Dirk Kuyt was quick to seize the chance of an interception.  Green at first drove him wide of goal but Kuyt still had time to pull the ball back inside the sprawling keeper before drilling a low shot in at the near post.  John Terry made a valiant attempt to block the shot but failed.  Ferdinand held his hand up to the error and it must be said that he looked off the pace at times.

To their credit England came back and had some excellent passages of play after the goal.  Wayne Rooney and Emile Heskey worked hard up front and soon England had chances.  A good move and a clever pass by Glen Johnston gave Frank Lampard a shot, which Maarten Stekelenburg blocked well, and then Rooney saw a blistering shot fly just wide.  David Beckham, looking as sharp as anyone, was putting some quality balls into the box and he even went close himself when he tried to head an Ashley Young cross which was just too high.  All in all it seemed that England had ridden through the mistake that cost them a goal and it all looked promising.  But in the 38^th minute the visitors contrived to give their hosts another total gift.  Ferdinand again casually played the ball square, this time to Gareth Barry, and Barry, without looking tried to lay it off to Ashley Cole.  Former Chelsea man Arjen Robben was alive to the predictability of it all and although Green blocked his shot brilliantly the ball ran loose to Rafael van den Vaart who smashed the ball into the net.

England had a reasonable penalty shout when Barry's back heel was blocked with his arm by de Jong. Green managed to block another Kuyt effort and tipped another Robben shot over.  Meanwhile Beckham set up Barry for a long shot that flew just over for England and the half ended with Holland 2-0 in front.  In many ways it had been a curious half, as England had played well at times, but you cannot give teams with the fire power of Holland two absolute gift goals, they don't need help like that.

Obviously a few words were said at the break and England made changes at half-time.  On came Jermaine Defoe, Michael Carrick and Shaun Wright-Phillips for Heskey, Barry and the best player of the first half, Beckham, and it was noticeable straight away how England pushed up on Holland, putting them on the back foot a little more.  Within four minutes of the restart England pulled a goal back.  Rooney looked to be flattened but the Italian referee played a brilliant advantage as he saw Lampard's long pass send Defoe clear.  The striker took the ball in his stride brilliantly and finished with a superb left foot shot in off the post.  He was obviously delighted as were the several thousand England fans present.  England looked more determined all round the team and Holland struggled to get out of their own half at times in the second half.  Capello then brought on Carlton Cole for Rooney and the West Ham striker gave an excellent display of powerful centre-forward play.  He held the ball up, brought other players into the action and was desperately unlucky not to score himself on at least two occasions.  On 67 minutes we saw the introduction of James Milner for his first cap and again the substitution (for Young) proved a huge success. 

Milner played on the left wing and turned his marker inside out on a number of occasions.  He also put in some quality crosses with both Defoe and Carlton Cole going close.  At the other end Holland were restricted to long-range efforts, all dealt with in a much sharper frame of mind by the England defence. 

It came as no real surprise when England scored a deserved equaliser.  The ball drifted out to the England left where John Heitinga seemed in control, but Milner brilliantly beat him to the ball, sprinted to the byeline and drilled in a low cross for Defoe to gleefully score his second of the night.

As the half wore on it looked as though England might go on and win the match, so dominant was their second half performance.  And it is worth noting that apart from their two gift goals Holland created very little by way of clear chances.  Some of Capello's fringe players did themselves no harm with their performances in Amsterdam and for once the substitutions all paid off for him.

Source Notes

BBC Sport
Official teamsheet
TheFA.com
Goal.com
SkySports.com
Voetbalstats.nl
Knvb.nl
ITV One/ITV.com
Mike Payne - football historian and contributor
Marcel Hoefsmit - friend and contributor
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CG