It is 49 years since England last won in Amsterdam, with Alf Ramsey as manager, Colin Bell scoring an 84th-minute winner and Emlyn Hughes winning his first cap, so Gareth Southgate and his players are entitled to feel pleased with themselves now they have recorded their first victory here against the Oranje since the year man set foot on the moon.
After that kind of wait, perhaps it might be slightly impertinent to point out that we saw here why this is regarded as the worst Dutch side for a long time. England certainly chose obliging opponents and on this evidence, with the stadium barely half-full by the final whistle, it is very clear that a win against this lot cannot be considered the prize it once was.
Equally, England can still reflect on a satisfying evening after Jesse Lingard’s winning goal, a clean sheet for Jordan Pickford and – if we are to be grateful for small mercies – nothing too horrendous from the end decorated with St George’s flags.
Well, apart from the usual brainless attempt to drown out another country’s national anthem. Over two days, more than 100 England fans have been arrested but at least when it comes to the actual football it was the other country who should be the more embarrassed.
Not that anyone in the England set-up should get too carried away just yet. The game against Italy at Wembley on Tuesday
http://www.authenticavalanchejerseys.com/Authentic-Lanny-Mcdonald-Jersey should provide a more realistic gauge of England’s World Cup preparations and, even in victory, there are still legitimate questions to be asked of Southgate when his team selections show so little in the way of pattern or structure.
He started here with three players who usually operate as right-backs for their clubs, but without one
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As it happened, Maguire came on in the 10th minute because of an early injury for Joe Gomez, who plays
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Confused? England should be glad this was such a poor Dutch side because the lack of clear strategy can seem bizarre, particularly when there are only three games now – or 270 minutes – to finalise their
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On that front, Southgate will at least have a better idea now why Rose has fallen out of favour with Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham. Rose was involved in the goal but his overall performance was poor and, on the other side, Kieran Trippier did not do enough to disprove the
http://www.wildofficialauthentic.com/Devan_Dubnyk_Jersey_Adidas theory that Walker is better equipped for the role.
On a brighter note, England did show at times that they have a good mix of movement and speed in attack and, having offered very little during the first half, they are also entitled to think they should have been awarded a penalty six minutes after the restart. Marcus Rashford’s speed caught out Matthijs de Ligt and the goalkeeper, Jeroen Zoet, should not have come haring off his line.
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