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England win pleases Keegan
Posted: Thursday June 01, 2000 10:54 AM LONDON (Reuters) -- England continued its Euro 2000 preparations in encouraging style on Wednesday when goals by Robbie Fowler and Tony Adams gave it a well-deserved 2-0 home win over Ukraine. After a sticky early period, England settled to play some excellent football and, in the second half particularly, sliced through the Ukraine defense to create a series of good scoring chances. Coach Kevin Keegan, who named his final Euro 2000 squad later Wednesday, said he was very pleased with England's performance -- especially in the second half against a talented Ukraine side that missed out on next month's tournament after surprisingly losing to Slovenia in the playoffs. Keegan said: "It was a good night's work. I made six changes from the team that drew with Brazil on Saturday and it took 15-20 minutes to sort it out. "But we did and I thought we played very well. We are going to be a handful for any team at set pieces and I thought in the second half in particular we caused them a lot of problems. "It was a real game of football and I thought a lot of the players out there tonight battled well and I was very pleased." England started full of confidence and David Beckham sent a curling free kick inches wide after five minutes. Four minutes later Paul Scholes was through but saw his shot rebound from a post. Ukraine then settled and it was England's turn to look uncomfortable at the back where the three central defenders seemed unable to sort out their marking duties and the wingbacks also looked unsure of their responsibilities. Andriy Shevchenko and Serhiy Rebrov, one of the most potent striking duos in world soccer, found it all too easy to find space in the England box and Shevchenko forced a good save from Nigel Martyn after 12 minutes. But England gradually settled and took the lead a minute before halftime when Ukraine's debutant keeper Viacheslav Kernozenko spilled an Alan Shearer header from David Beckham's corner and Fowler was on hand to stab the loose ball in. His work done, Fowler was replaced by Liverpool team mate Emile Heskey for the second half. But it was the visitors who came out firing and only the goalkeeping of Martyn kept England's lead intact. The Leeds United keeper made three good saves, all to deny Shevchenko, as the AC Milan forward was on target with a shot, header and free kick. The value of a good goalkeeper was then further underlined as Kernozenko was again at fault for England's second goal after 68 minutes. Again it was a Beckham corner which did the damage, Kernozenko punching poorly straight to Adams who shot the ball straight back past him and into the net for his first international goal for 11 years. Seven minutes later England brought on 19-year-old Aston Villa defender Gareth Barry for his first cap, Nick Barmby also joining the fray, as Keegan sought to give his Euro 2000 squad members a taste of the action. Barmby immediately split the Ukraine defense with an excellent pass but Heskey, clean through, shot straight at Kernozenko. Barmby repeated the pass soon after, this time to Steve McManaman, with the same result. Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard, England's other debutant, was replaced by Kieron Dyer 10 minutes from time but can be pleased with his contribution. England complete its preparations with an away friendly with Malta on Saturday.
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