England 1-0 Sweden - Match Report
Gareth Barry's header was the only goal as England comfortably beat their fellow Euro 2012 peers in a snoozefest at Wembley tonight.
It was yet another nothing of a game for England in their latest International friendly against Sweden, but Fabio Capello will be pleased his side comfortably beat their fellow Euro 2012 peers in a snoozefest at Wembley tonight. It was England's first victory against Sweden in 43 years (some 12 matches) but I imagine there were very few contests between the sides as low-key and tame as this. The winning goal came just after twenty minutes after a long England build-up with Leighton Baines and Stewart Downing combining well on the left hand side, and the later Liverpool winger putting in a beautiful cross for Gareth Barry to score the third English goal of his career. Replays showed the goal was scored via a deflection off Swedish defender Daniel Majstorovic and Barry's header was probably going wide but it would be a cruel strike to take off him. So hopefully the record books will say England's 2,000th goal came from Barry on what was his 50th cap for his country. Then the match died and barely anything of note to report in a particularly boring international game. Daniel Sturridge made his first appearance for England in the second half and a miss-hit cross from Sweden's Sebastian Larsson nearly snuck into the top corner when substitute Scott Carson was momentarily confused. England missed a bunch of guilt-edged chances, especially Phil Jones who only needed to slot past the keeper after running through on goal and late on from Stewart Downing who shot too close to the keeper with a powerful effort just outside of the box. Still despite the tame encounter lots of positives for Capello. Tottenham's Kyle Walker gave a man of the match performance that must surely see him cement that right back position for the Euro's as he was outstanding tonight. He was the most impressive of the first England starters with Jack Rodwell and Bobby Zamora unlikely to force themselves into the first team after their opportunity, though Rodwell did hit the post with a header and almost scored.