For 55 minutes, England appeared to be limping to another boring draw or 1-0 win. Then Jordan Henderson sparked his side to life ... by scoring on his own goal. Trailing Slovenia sparked a sense of urgency in the Three Lions, who went on to win 3-1.
England vs. Slovenia: Final score 3-1, Three Lions produce impressive late burst
All it took was Jordan Henderson reminding England how to score.
Absolutely nothing of note happened in a first half that featured almost no creative passing by England and lots of hopeful shots that didn't test Samir Handanovic. Slovenia, perfectly happy with a point on the road, didn't have any incentive to push men forward and make things easier on England's attackers.
The second half appeared to be more of the same until the 58th minute, when Henderson directed a spectacular header into his own net. It was so good that it appeared he forgot what end of the pitch he was on and intended to hit the back of the net.
Wayne Rooney, who was poor up until this point, was the player who was most sparked to life by his team going down. He won a penalty less than a minute after the ensuing kickoff, stepped up to the penalty spot, and scored. From then, England were all out on the offensive and Slovenia couldn't do anything to stop them.
However, the winning goal was anything but pretty. Adam Lallana and Raheem Sterling did some nice work on the right flank to set up a shot for Danny Welbeck, but his shot wasn't great. However, Handanovic was expecting a rocket, so he was a bit thrown off by Welbeck's bad scuff, which bounced past him and into the back of the net.
While that was a bit lucky for England, their clinching goal was gorgeous, and put a nice exclamation point on an otherwise uninspiring performance. Welbeck and Sterling played a wonderful one-two exchange at the top of the box before Welbeck placed a composed finish past Handanovic at his far post from 12 yards.
England: Hart, Gibbs, Cahill, Jagielka (Smalling 89’), Clyne, Henderson, Wilshere, Lallana (Milner 79’), Sterling (Oxlade-Chamberlain 84’), Welbeck, Rooney
Goals: Rooney (penalty 59’), Welbeck (66’, 72’)
Slovenia: Handanovic, Struna, Ilic, Cesar, Brecko, Kirm (Ljubijankic 78’), Mertel, Kurtic (Rotman 75’), Kampl, Birsa (Lazarevic 63’), Novakovic
Goals: Henderson (OG 58’)
See More:
