England Defeat Wales 2-0 In Euro 2012 Qualifier

Fans shining a green laser into the eyes of several England players during Wales’ 2-0 defeat against England did not go unnoticed by Fabio Capello. Although it’s becoming almost commonplace to shine lasers at opposition players, the laser was even more obvious than usual, especially during substitutions, with both Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere and West Ham United’s Scott Parker were subject to the treatment as they marched off the pitch. While the dangers of laser pens are perhaps overstated, it’s still clearly not a nice thing to be doing to players at a football match - as Fabio Capello said, it’s rather unsporting.

Capello and other members of the England hierarchy have called for those responsible to be found and presumably paddled or something, but the FA has said it won’t lodge an official complaint with their Welsh counterparts. It’s doubtful that an investigation will find much anyway, as picking out one or two people in the crowd after the fact is something on the edge of impossible. Without people reporting other fans over behaviour like this, it’s never going to be entirely weeded out, so education is probably the best solution here. That or bringing on Nicolas Anelka to blind the perpetrators with that reflective dome of his.

England beat Wales 2-0 in their Euro 2012 qualifier in Cardiff, leaving Wales bottom of qualifying group G. England, meanwhile, lead the group on goal difference after what was a reassuring display against an admittedly poor Wales side. After a disappointing display the last time they played a competitive international fixture, drawing 0-0 with Montenegro at Wembley in October, England moved to a 4-3-3 and it did its job more than effectively, annihilating Wales in the first half and allowing the visitors to coast to victory in the second.

Frank Lampard, who was playing alongside Jack Wilshere in the centre of the midfield ahead of Scott Parker, got England on the scoresheet in the 7th minute from the penalty spot after Ashley Young was fouled by Aston Villa teammate James Collins. The Chelsea midfielder stepped up, sent Wayne Hennessey the wrong way, and roleld the ball into the net for an early lead.

We’ve got substitutions from both benches. Gary Speed hauls off Andy King and Steve Morrison for Ched Evans and David Vaughan, which doesn’t appear to be too much of a tactical shift. For Fabio Capello, it’s James Milner for Wayne Rooney, who hasn’t had a great game in front of the goal but has been more than happy to help out in midfield. James Milner won’t have much going on in front of goal but will be even more enthusiastic in helping out on defence.

Meanwhile Joe Ledley is booked for dissent after saying a naughty word to the referee, joining Andrew Crofts in the book - amazingly Craig Bellamy did not for saying the exact same thing but louder several minutes later. Perhaps Olegario Benquerenca was simply too scared to book the notoriously volcanic striker. In truth it’s been better from Wales this half, with a couple of opportunities falling to their forward players, but with England 2-0 and not doing much but coasting, it’s not a big shock that the home side are seeing more of the ball.

Make that 2-0 to the visitors. England’s new 4-3-3 shape is making the side, often derided as overrated, look absolutely magnificent. Wales, on the other hand, could probably be described as abject, but there wasn’t a whole lot that they could have done about the goal that Darren Bent just scored. Ashley Young, who won the sixth minute penalty that led to the first goal, went haring down the right and was picked out by a long ball over the top from Glen Johnson.

The Aston Villa dangerman sprinted towards the touchline and sent in an inch-perfect low cross to teammate Darren Bent, who lashed into the net as though he was quite keen on putting a new hole in it. For Wayne Hennessey, trying to stop that would have been like stepping onto a busy motorway without wearing any trousers, a metaphor which only works if you don’t think about it too hard.

Frank Lampard, wearing the #7 shirt rather than his more familiar #8 has made it 1-0 to England very early after Ashley Young won a (soft) penalty off Aston Villa teammate James Collins. John Terry had gone on a swashbuckling run up the heart of the pitch, and as Collins attempted to cover both the England captain and Young he slipped. Terry took advantage of the situation to pass the ball to Young, and in Collins’ attempts to recover he clipped his clubmate’s ankles, which was more than enough incentive for Young to go down and the referee to point to the spot.

Lampard took the kick, rolling it rather cooly into the net after sending Wayne Hennessey the wrong way. it was one of those penalties that would have looked really really stupid had the goalkeeper not dived in the opposite direction, but England are leading Wales nonetheless.

England (4-1-2-3, maybe): Hart; Cole, Terry, Dawson, Johnson; Parker; Lampard, Wilshere; Rooney, Bent, Young.

That’s a less than thinly veiled accusation that Wales have broken the man widely believed to be Tottenham’s best player. Bale’s been hit with injuries a little too often for the London’s sides liking this year, and they won’t be happy that the 21 year-old has picked up a hamstring injury on international duty (at least it’s not a friendly). Meanwhile, Wales boss Gary Speed is continuing to claim that the injury was present before Bale joined up with the squad.

If it’s not a 10-day thing, expect some... words out of the Tottenham camp, especially with their first Champions League quarter final match against Real Madrid coming up in a little over a week.

Wales winger Gareth Bale will miss Saturday’s key Euro 2012 qualifier against England with a hamstring injury. The Welsh FA released a statement confirming several earlier reports that the 21-year-old would miss the match after Bale was unable to train on Wednesday and now Wales will be without their top player for their clash against the Three Lions at Millenium Stadium.

“Due to a hamstring problem, Gareth Bale has had to withdraw from the Wales squad to face England,” a Football Association of Wales statement said. “He felt tight last week during training with his club. After playing 90 minutes on Saturday he felt some muscle tightness.”