England 3-1 Egypt: Peter Crouch Double Saves Three Lions Blushes

Posted Thursday, March 04, 2010 by YAHOO Sport

England came from behind to beat Egypt 3-1 at Wembley stadium this evening. Peter Crouch came off the bench to score twice after Mohamed Zidan had given the Pharaohs the lead in the first half. Shaun Wright-Phillips also scored for the Three Lions.

England had an early chance to take the lead, Wayne Rooney played in Theo Walcott and he burst beyond Ahmed Fathy to latch onto the ball in the right-hand side of the box. He cut the ball back towards Frank Lampard who had found space in the penalty area, the Chelsea midfielder shot first time but it was straight at Essam El-Hadary and the 37-year-old ‘keeper saved easily.

Egypt responded with an attack down the England left, Ahmed Al-Muhammadi exchanged passes with Mohamed Zidan to navigate debutant Leighton Baines. The Eyptian sent a good cross into the box but it was headed over the crossbar as John Terry challenged.

Rooney was involved in England’s next attack, the Three Lions worked forward from Baines, who played the ball to Gareth Barry in midfield. The Aston Villa man found Rooney 35 yards from goal and he ran at the Pharaohs defence before slipping the ball to Jermaine Defoe to his left. Before Defoe could get a shot off from the edge of the box, Wael Gomaa challenged to win back possession for his side.

The Egyptians showed they were prepared to continue attacking. Ahmed Hassan played a neat pass through to Zidan on the right, he took a touch to take the ball past Matthew Upson before taking aim for the top right-hand corner. His shot was powerful, but Robert Green looked to have it covered as the ball shot just wide of the right-hand post.

England didn’t heed this warning and went behind in the 23rd minute; Hosny Abd-Rabo cut back onto his right foot high on the left flank and crossed towards the edge of the England penalty box. Upson got in front of Zidan but lost his footing, allowing the ball to roll through to the Borussia Dortmund forward. He kept his cool, taking a touch before he smashed the ball past Green into the right-hand side of the net: 1-0 to Egypt.

The hosts had a couple of headed opportunities after falling behind , Steven Gerrard floated a ball from deep towards Rooney at the back post but the Manchester United forward nodded wide of the left-hand post. Defoe headed wide for England ten minutes later after a Wes Brown cross from the right flank.

England engineering a chance from nothing as half-time approached, Gerrard played a hopeful pass forward from the centre but Defoe managed to muscle past his marker to get on the end of it. The Spurs forward took a touch to bring the ball into the penalty before firing at goal with his left foot, it was a venomous strike but El-Hadary managed to push it wide of the left-hand post.

Fabio Capello made two changes at the start of the second half, taking off Defoe and Lampard to introduce Crouch and Michael Carrick.

Rooney had the first opportunity after the restart, he ran at the Egyptian defence before pivoting on the edge of the box. His touch took him away from Fathy and into space; he then curled a right-footed shot towards the far corner of the goal. El-Hadary was well positioned, and caught the ball full in his midriff.

England equalised in the 56th minute with a slick passing move. Carrick moved the ball infield from high the right flank to Gerrard who quickly played the ball to Barry in the right-hand side of the penalty area. He cut the ball back to Crouch who drilled past El-Hadary into the right-hand side of the net: 1-1.

Walcott was immediately withdrawn and was replaced by Wright-Phillips. The Manchester City man had an almost immediate impact, attacking the byline on the right flank before chipping a cross towards the penalty spot. Crouch went for his trademark scissor kick but swiped at thin air before Gerrard followed up and had his shot blocked. Rooney tried his luck too but was blown up for an infringement.

Rooney combined with Barry to open up the Egyptian defence in the 66th minute. The Villa midfielder spotted the forward pulling off the shoulder of his marker and played him into the left-hand side of the penalty area. Rooney’s touch took him wide, but he still managed to get his shot off from a tight angle under pressure from El-Hadary. It was well struck, but it went wide of the right-hand post.

England took the lead in the 75th minute. Substitute James Milner played the ball out to the left flank where Baines played it back towards the edge of the box. Milner fired a vicious snapshot with his right-foot and El-Hadary was forced to parry, it came back out to Wright-Phillips who quickly rifled back on goal. His shot moved in the air and it deceived the Egyptian ‘keeper, who could only palm into his only net: 2-1 to England.

The Three Lions were further ahead within a few minutes; Wright-Phillips played a one-two with Brown before skipping past Gomaa and driving a low cross towards Crouch.