NUREMBERG, Germany -- Peter Crouch and his England teammates spent most of
the game missing chances in front of the net. With the time ticking away and
England only minutes from a shocking draw against tiny Trinidad and Tobago,
Crouch made the best of his last opportunity.
Rooney (left) was a second-half sub.
[AP] |
Crouch headed in a cross by David Beckham in the 83rd minute to help England
advance to the second round of the World Cup with a 2-0 victory Thursday.
"It was disappointing, but you can't let your head drop and obviously you've
got to keep getting in there," Crouch said. "I think with our delivery, and
especially from David Beckham from the right, I think you're always going to get
other chances. Thankfully, I managed to take one of them."
Steven Gerrard added a goal in injury time and England got its second
straight win in Group B to clinch a spot in the next round.
England controlled play for most of the game, but Crouch and others missed
countless good chances, raising Trinidad's hopes of holding its second straight
favorite to a 0-0 draw.
"People expected us to walk through this game," Beckham said. "We knew they
were going to play 11 men behind the ball. They made it hard for us all game. We
knew if we kept to our game plan that we'd break them down."
England got a boost from Wayne Rooney's early return from a broken foot in
the 58th minute, and finally broke through near the end. Aaron Lennon, the
19-year-old winger who came on in the second half, got the ball to Beckham in
open space on the right side.
Beckham took his time and found the 6-foot-7 Crouch in front of the Trinidad
net. Crouch leapt over Brett Sancho and headed the ball past Shaka Hislop for
England's first second-half goal in a World Cup since 1998 -- eight games since
Michael Owen scored against Romania.
"To be honest, I think he was all over my back," Sancho said. "He was
definitely pulling me back and definitely over my back. Then again, we're tiny
Trinidad and Tobago. There's no way the referee is going to blow that whistle."
Crouch's goal brought relief to England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson and his
players, who seemed to be just minutes away from a stunning scoreless draw.
"We are always relieved when you go at a team as much as we did and we got
nothing for 80 minutes," Beckham said. "But we were always creating chances and
if we had taken them, we would have been a few up. The positive thing was that
we finished strong and kept creating chances."
England joined Germany and Ecuador, which have advanced from Group A. The
English will play one of those teams in the next round.
Trinidad and Tobago, which tied Sweden 0-0 in its opener, nearly scored late
in the first half, but defender John Terry made an acrobatic save at the goal
line. Stern John headed a ball in the middle of the box that appeared on its way
into the net in the 45th minute, only to see Terry clear it off the goal line
while falling down.
