International Football September 2007

England on course

England 3 Israel 0 ( Wembley European qualifier )
England got back on track with a fine 3-0 win over Israel to record their first victory at their new Wembley stadium. Emile Heskey should have scored early in the match when Owen set him up in front of goal, but he blasted high over the bar. The opening goal came in the 20th minute when Shaun Wright-Phillips timed his run perfectly to get behind the Israeli wall and latch onto a Joe Cole delivery to side-foot the ball into the roof of the net. Owen found himself in a similar position in the 37th minute, but his shot came off the face of Israeli goalkeeper Dudu Auoate. Five minutes into the second half Owen received a ball from Gareth Barry, turned and smashed it into the back of the net with a spectacular volley from just outside the area. Micah Richards scored England's 3rd with a powerful header in the 66th minute. Owen should have added another in the dying minutes but having got past the keeper, his goal-bound effort was blocked by Ziv.

Wright-Phillips scores opener

Among Other Matches on the night:
World Cup finalists Italy and France drew 0-0 in Milan, which pleased Scotland who were the only winners of their group beating Lithuania 3-1 at Hampden Park with goals from Boyd 31, McManus 77 and a McFadden wonder shot on the 83rd minute. Scandinavian Stalemate in Stockholm suited Sweden more, though they had plenty of chances to send their northern neighbours home empty handed. Iniesta scored a late equaliser to salvage Spain a 1-1 draw in Iceland after Xabi Alonso had been sent off in the 19th minute and the Icelanders had taken a 40th minute lead through Emil Hallfredsson. There was no luck for the Irish as the Republic were denied victory in Slovakia with a goal in stoppage time bringing the score to 2-2 and Northern Ireland scoring an own goal to decide their match in Latvia. Eduardo Da Silva scored both goals as Croatia beat Estonia 2-0 while Russia went one goal better at home to Macedonia. Cristiano Ronaldo seemed to have scored the winner for Portugal, but a late goalkeeping error gave Poland a 2-2 draw in Lisbon. Malta enjoyed a 2-2 home draw with Turkey.