England end 2011 undefeated

England played out another win and another clean sheet in front of the smallest Wembley crowd in 13 years, 2 friendles in a few days hardly grabbed the publics attention, the result though had plenty of plusses.

The game was hardly a classic, England were the better side and could have scored more in a decent first half, the second half was in true training ground friendly style though and had few moments to get the heart racing.

England went with only 3 players who started aganst Spain, Hart, Barry and Jones, the rest were all predictable changes as Cappello took the chance to experiment a bit and see what the competition is like for places.

The bonuses from the game will no doubt be the performances of Walker who likes he may give Glen Johnson a real push for a starting spot, Jones who in midfield once more gave a few glimpses of his talent and of Downing who created the goal and put in a few telling deliveries.

The much feted 2000th goal looks like going down as an og, Downing swung in the cross and Barry looked to have made the perfect contact as it crept inside the post, countless replays though showed the telling contact came from Majstorovic as he tried to put Barry off his header.

Phil Jones almost got a great goal, bursting through from midfield he did everything right except guide the ball home, the ball dribbling agonisingly wide.

Jack Rodwell had a decent game of note also, he managed to get in one hook shot, but it will be his miss just before half-time that will live in his memory, Downing's perfect ball was right on his head but he could only glance against a post when he should really of scored.

The second half was pretty much a non entity, as so often in friendlies the flurry of substitutions ruin the flow, England were still on top and most of their scares at the back were mainly down to errors rather than Swedish flair, the night though was white as England overcame another hoodoo and gained another one in the win bank, this year was undefeated, if we are still saying the same next November however, we will have something to shout about!

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