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Beckham delivers Captain, Owen lead England comeback win over Finland
Updated: Sunday March 25, 2001 12:42 AM
LIVERPOOL, England (Reuters) -- Sven Goran Eriksson's competitive England era got off to a stuttering but ultimately successful start on Saturday as goals by Michael Owen and David Beckham gave his side a 2-1 World Cup qualifying victory over Finland at Anfield. The pressure was on the former Lazio coach, who became a target for the critics from the day he became the first foreigner to take charge of the England team. But his players responded to the challenge to give him a victory and climb from last to second in the Group 9 standings pending the Germany-Albania game later Saturday. England, playing its first competitive home game away from Wembley since 1962 and its first ever under a foreign coach, fell behind to an Aki Riihilahti header after 26 minutes as they failed to impose themselves in the first half. Owen banged in the equalizer just before halftime and a screamer from Beckham four minutes after the restart had the home fans sitting back and waiting for the goals to come. Owen hit the bar and Cole missed badly from close range, but England was indebted to goalkeeper David Seaman who made a great double save in the last minute to deny the ever-dangerous Jari Litmanen. England, which lost its opening World Cup game 1-0 at home to Germany to spark the resignation of coach Keegan and drew the next 0-0 in Helsinki, now has four points from three games. It visits Albania on Wednesday. Eriksson almost got off to a dream start as Cole lashed a shot inches wide after just 30 seconds, but it proved something of a false dawn as England was unable to stretch the hardworking visitors over the next half-hour. The congested midfield left England struggling for space and too often resorting to hopeful long balls, which were all too easily gobbled up by Finland's central defensive rocks, Sami Hyypia and Hannu Tihinen. Finland grew in confidence, with Liverpool's Litmanen inevitably at the heart of most of their attacks. Left helpless Finland got its reward after 26 minutes when Crystal Palace midfielder Riihilahti rose virtually unchallenged to meet a Joonas Kolkka corner and saw the ball fly into the net off the knee of Gary Neville, with Seaman left helpless. Finland almost grabbed a second after 40 minutes when a delightful Litmanen flick sent Jonatan Johansson clear, but the Charlton Athletic striker's shot was well gathered by Seaman. England equalized three minutes later after Beckham finally injected some much-needed pace to the build-up. Beckham fed Neville on the right, who flicked the ball over a sliding defender and sent a low cross to a third Manchester United player in Cole. The striker laid the ball back to Owen on the edge of the box for the Liverpool player to drive it expertly into the corner off a slight deflection. England was ahead four minutes into the second half with a cleverly worked and brilliantly finished goal. Steve McManaman drove through the middle of midfield before laying the ball off to Paul Scholes. He in turn rolled it into the path of Beckham, who took one touch before blasting it past Antti Niemi for only his second goal in 39 England appearances. The goal from a tough angle again benefited from a slight deflection. The goal clearly lifted England, attacking the Kop end, and the fans almost had a second Owen goal to celebrate on the hour when the Liverpool man sent a header against the bar while Cole blazed horribly wide from 10 meters after a clever touch by Scholes. Eriksson introduced Emile Heskey, another Liverpool player, for McManaman after 72 minutes and England continued to press forward, looking for the third goal. But instead of securing the game, England spent the last five minutes rather desperately hanging on to it. The Finns almost snatched an equalizer two minutes from the end but Seaman brilliantly blocked Jari Litmanen's far post header and Rio Ferdinand blocked the follow up shot with the 'keeper grounded, and England hung on for the three points it so dearly needed to get the World Cup campaign back on course. Steven Gerrard recovered from his recurring injury problem, while coach Eriksson recalled veteran Arsenal 'keeper David Seaman for his 63rd cap at age 37. Just 20 years old, Gerrard has missed 10 England games because of a back muscle problem caused by his quick growth in recent years, and he lined up for only the third time and first game since England's 1-0 victory over Germany at Euro 2000. Eriksson said he believed that Wednesday's game at Albania would be just as tough. "Albania is not the most famous nation when you talk about football but when you see the results, they won against Greece. But let's talk about Albania tomorrow." Eriksson finds reliefIt was probably not quite the way he would have wanted it, but Eriksson was a very happy man after watching his team beat a spirited Finland. If he was disappointed that his side had to recover from conceding an early goal and then hanging on desperately in the dying minutes for their three points, he hid it well. "It was important to win and as I always say about these games the result is the most important thing," said the Swede, who became England's first foreign coach earlier this year following the resignation of Kevin Keegan. "It means a lot to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 win, it's very good for team spirit. "We created some good chances, scored two beautiful goals and could have scored more. "We were suffering at the end of the game but they are a very strong, physical side, difficult to defend against, and I thought we did it well," he said. He was not so pleased about the defending that allowed Riihilahti almost a free header to give the Finns the lead. "It wasn't perfect marking at that corner, we could have done a bit better," he admitted. "But we were better after that and did well against their two big central defenders who are very strong when they come up." England looked sluggish for most of the first half and both goals were the result of an injection of pace. Beckham sparked the first with a cross-field run, while a burst through the middle by Steve McManaman followed by a sharp Paul Scholes lay-off made space for the second. Play quickly "We were a bit quicker to get the ball forward in the second half," said Eriksson. "You must play quickly against them, and that is mostly what we talked about at halftime. "The goals were the result of quick passing. If you are not playing with one, two touches, it's very difficult at this level. "It is very hard to get at a team when they have nine or 10 players behind the ball." Owen also accepted that it was far from a vintage display. "It wasn't the best performance in the world by us, but we showed traditional British qualities to make sure we didn't get beaten," he said. "They could have scored in the last five minutes, but we had so many bodies in the way, and that typified the afternoon for us. "It was nice to go in at 1-1 because I think 1-0 might have been a bit dodgy. It gave everyone a lift." Owen, along with the rest of the Liverpool contingent, was given a great reception by the 44,00 Anfield full house, but Eriksson's fears of a hostile time for the Manchester United players proved unfounded. Club loyalties "It was wonderful," said the Swede in a rare display of emotion. "Congratulations to all the fans. It was perfect, wonderful and very civilized that they can forget their club loyalties. "Maybe next week [when Liverpool hosts United in the league] the music will be different, but that's how it should be" Finland coach Antti Muurinen was also upbeat despite the defeat and was rightly pleased with his team's display. "The Owen goal was a turning point; it came at a very bad time for us," he said. "We might even still have had a draw with Litmanen's header, but Seaman made a brilliant save. "But I am very satisfied with my team's performance. It showed that Finnish football is taking big steps forward."
Summary:
Scorers: England - Michael Owen 43, David Beckham 50 Finland - Aki Rihilahti 26 Halftime: 1-1; Attendance: 44,262 Teams: England: 1-David Seaman; 3-Chris Powell, 5-Rio Ferdinand, 6-Sol Campbell, 2-Gary Neville; 4-Steven Gerrard, 11-Steve McManaman (16-Emile Heskey 72), 7-David Beckham, 8-Paul Scholes; 10-Michael Owen (15-Nicky Butt 90), 9-Andy Cole (17-Robbie Fowler 82) Finland: 1-Antti Niemi; 3-Harri Ylonen (16-Petri Helin 89), 5-Hannu Tihinen, 4-Sami Hyypia, 2-Petri Pasanen; 11-Joonas Kolkka (18-Shefki Kuqi 63), 7-Mika Nurmela (17-Mikael Forssell 63), 8-Jarkko Wiss, 6-Aki Rihilahti; 10-Jari Litmanen, 9-Jonatan Johansson Referee: Valentin Ivanov (Russia).
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