Joe Cole came to Fabio Capello's rescue again with a brace of goals as England won their World Cup qualifying opener with Andorra 2-0 after being booed off at half-time.
The team ranked 186th in the world frustrated England for 45 minutes, as they did 18 months ago when Steve McClaren suffered abuse from his own fans.
Steven Gerrard turned the game around at the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona that evening, and Chelsea midfielder Cole did so this time around.
After being brought on at the interval, he scored twice within 10 minutes, adding to the goal he scored against the Czech Republic in his previous game when he equalised with almost the last kick of the match.
It is now four consecutive games Capello has left him out of the starting XI.
England now face Croatia, and Cole told Setanta Sports: "You have to judge us on Wednesday's game. They are fifth in the world and we still have a lot to prove. We have to move on now and try and win the next game.
"This game and Wednesday's game wil be two different animals. You can't compare them. They are tough games to play on a sticky pitch like this but Croatia is what it's all about."
Capello told Setanta Sports: "We had a lot of chances. I'm happy because it's a very important three points.
"In the first half we played well for the first 15 or 20 minutes and had two chances to score goals."
Your Comments
themanwhofell
"Dees... why criticise Darren Bent? He wasn't even playing. Perhaps you're thinking of Heskey."
englishtim
"Fabio had us playing long ball to two short strikers, no crouch no owen - heskey is rubbish, lampard and barry did fook all and downing was a joke. WHy did we not take the opportunity to play Young, Agbonlahor, Jenas, Bentley,Sturridge, Onuhua - walcott was arguably the most exciting player out there, we all know England cant win tournaments with lampard, gerrard, beckham,rooney and the old guard they have had 12 years or more and 4 tournaments to prove us wrong. Fabio is collecting a paycheck and is no better than McClaren. I think people will realise just how good Sven really was in a few years. Almost made me cry having to watch the sheer lack of tactics and ability out on display. Andorra are a team of part time footballers and have a population of under 100,000. We can only beat them 2-0 !!!! The end of the national team is here, why the heell do you call up bullard at 29 if you dont even play him ?? bring back hoddle and tell him to pick only young players and build for towards 2014 world cup because come SOuth africa and 2010 England will be a longshot at best. Pathetic display from an overpaid manager with no clue as to who his best team is. Good club managers dont always make good International managers and Cappello is looking like a man with few ideas on how to turn the tide. "
dees
"this is confirmation for fabio capello that downing,defoe,or darren bent simply don't have the level to compete at the international level and hence must be dropped out from ay future selections. Theo walcott and Glen Johnson appears good to me. They can only get better. True test begins against Croatia..."
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