“Becks is not like [Claude] Makelele but he gives you that range of passing over the top I think it’s a great system to play, especially in Europe. “In that position Becks give us his passing ability,” Gerrard said “I thought his passing was brilliant. He added: “And it takes time in a match to get used to one position.”Gerrard said that the new approach had been as a direct result of the defeat to Denmark last month. “We were outnumbered and outplayed,” he said of that midfield performance. “There are various things we can improve on.”
Cole conceded that the team was “getting nervous” towards the end of the match as Wales pushed forward. “We didn’t control it as well in the last 15 minutes but they were throwing everything at us then.”
His team-mate Steven Gerrard admitted that one of the problems had been that he was “asked to play in three different positions” – moving from the centre to the right and then left. The England players admitted that there had been some confusion over the system employed by their coach, Sven Goran Eriksson.
“I felt it worked well at times but it’s not like we’re going to get it right first time”, said Joe Cole, who scored England’s goal. Substitutes not used: Ingham (gk), Brunt, Sproule, Murdock.Azerbaijan (4-4-2): Kramarenko; Amirbekov, Tagizade (Nabiev, 84), Muzika, Imamaliyev; M Gurbanov (Ponomaryov, 65), Sadygov, Guliyev, Hajivev; Kerimov, Aliyev (Shukurov, 74). Substitutes not used: Hasanzade (gk), Guliev, A Gurbanov, Melikov.Referee: D Stanisic (Serbia & Montenegro).Booked: Azerbaijan Guliyev, Aliyev, Amirbekov, Sadygov.Attendance: 14,000.. Stuart Elliott opened the scoring in the 60th minute with a superb 20-yard free-kick and then Warren Feeney stepped off the bench to add a second. And Sanchez has a relaxed attitude towards Wednesday’s encounter.
“We are not expected to win as we are 100-odd places below them in the Fifa rankings,” he said.Goals: Elliott (60) 1-0; Feeney pen (85) 2-0.Northern Ireland (4-4-2): Taylor; Baird, Hughes, Craigan, Capaldi; Gillespie, Johnson, Davis, Elliott (Robinson, 89); Healy (Jones, 79), Quinn (Feeney, 72). The Luton striker grabbed the ball off Elliott to score from the spot.
The result came without the midfielders Jeff Whitley and Phil Mulryne, who were banished from the squad for breaking a curfew. But that could have worked in the team’s favour, according to the manager, Lawrie Sanchez.”Sometimes the chaos works for a team in that it concentrates your mind on what the job is,” he said. Germany (who qualify as hosts) Argentina Iran Japan Saudi Arabia South Korea Ukraine United States Brazil.
The Northern Ireland goalkeeper Maik Taylor says his side will go into Wednesday’s match against England with renewed confidence after ending a four-year run without a competitive win by beating Azerbaijan “We have nothing to fear against England,” he said. Victory over Cameroon would have put them into the finals but Alioum Saidou won the tie for Cameroon in the 85th minute. Ivory Coast must now defeat Sudan and hope Cameroon lose to Egypt. Angola and Togo can also secure World Cup debuts next month and deny Nigeria and Senegal in the process. Morocco must win in Tunisia to overtake them and claim the region’s fifth place.
