England crush Croatia
Croatia 1 England 4 (Zagreb 10 September 2008 )
Croatia suffered their first ever competitive home defeat with 19 year old Theo Walcott scoring a hat-trick for England. A failed Croatian clearance in the 26th minute fell to Walcott who drilled the ball home for his first goal of the night. Robert Kovac received a straight red in the 53rd minute after using his elbow in an aerial challenge which left Joe Cole with blood gushing from his head. Six minutes later Rooney fed Walcott who finished off with a low shot crisply struck into the far corner, and in the 63rd minute it was Jermaine Jenas who turned provider, pulling the ball back after a run on the left for Rooney to place it past Pletikosa in the Croatia goal. Darijo Srna got away with a high kick and ran into the box to find Mandzukic who slid the ball under the body of David James in the 78th minute, but England restored their 3 goal lead with 8 minutes remaining when Rooney slipped the ball to Walcott who rolled it past Pletikosa for his hat-trick and an impressive 4-1 win for England.
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