A second Kieron Dyer snub ahead of the Armenia clash signalled the absolute end of his England career under my leadership. Once can be forgiven, twice cannot. Everton are welcome to him. Sean Davis took advantage of the opportunity to come in and made the starting XI for the game. Losing Steven Gerrard was a blow, but one that would be felt more in the second game, against Belgium, than in the first.
Sol Campbell and Jonathan Woodgate received late call-ups as John Terry and Rio Ferdinand struggled with injury. Alan Smith took the total of call-offs to five on top of the two who were unfit for initial selection. Not ideal preparation, but Armenia ought to have posed little threat.
The guys who made it onto the pitch, including a sore Matthew Upson, loked to assert themselves early on, but a solid rearguard action from the Armenians proved frustrating for fifteen minutes until Michael Owen pounced on a spill by the keeper to put England ahead, though the official scorer marked it as an own goal. Sean Davis opened his account for his country on the half hour, but picked up a booking in an up-and-down first half.
Rooney and Wright-Phillips were introduced at the break for Defoe and Lampard, and the benefit was immediate as Michael Owen roudned off a move to get the goal he was denied earlier. The Real Madrid striker then added his second with twenty minutes to play, but the final whistle came, leaving him to rue the hat-trick stolen from him.
Wayne Rooney returned to an otherwise unchanged lineup in Brussels as we looked to drill home out position as the group's class act. Sadly we were unable to keep a clean sheet, Thomas Buffel firing past Paul Robinson after just ten minutes, but the sleeves were rolled up and Rooney went close almost immediately. Stewart Downing was a constant menace on the left, but the Belgians held on till half time, giving us plenty to mull over during the interval. A triple change saw Shaun Wright-Phillips, Glen Johnson and Jermain Defoe replace Lampard, Sol Campbell and Rooney, and the wily Wright-Phillips drew a stunning save from the Belgian keeper early on. With 64 minutes on the clock came the break through. A deep Downing cross looked set to drift out of play harmlessly before a lung-bursting run saw the in-form David Beckham arrive almost at the by-line. How he forced the ball home I may never know, but he did. An injury to Defoe left us to play the last fifteen minutes with ten men, so a draw was gleefully accepted. Not the steamroller we intended to be, but the walking wounded did us proud.
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