Sport

Eriksson hoping imposing victory will break the ice

England - 6 Iceland - 1: The crowd lapped up the goals, but they were not the spectators who really devoured this match

Kevin McCarra at the City of Manchester Stadium
Mon Jun 07 2004 - 01:00

England - 6 Iceland - 1: The crowd lapped up the goals, but they were not the spectators who really devoured this match. It is England's vigilant rivals who will have scraped the plate clean of every detail. Nonetheless, a win of this magnitude for Sven-Goran Eriksson's gifted squad is not at all to their taste.

"England is a great football country and we have a lot of extremely good players," said the manager in what may be the genteel version of a war cry. "We in England notice if Italy or France have a big result and it's the same for them looking at us."

Sceptics will argue that the FA just rounded up some patsies for this morale-raising cavalcade. Fall-guys, however, are in demand everywhere. San Marino, the worst side in Europe, must be refusing to answer the phone; otherwise we would surely have seen them being dragged out on to a pitch by one of the Euro 2004 contenders.

The Netherlands are thankful for the Faroe Islands, since a 3-0 win over the team rated 131st in the world has separated two 1-0 losses at home to Belgium and, of course, Ireland. France, whom England face on Sunday in the European Championship, descended 15 rungs further in the rankings to meet Andorra for a recent 4-0 victory.

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By comparison, England were taking their lives in their hands against Iceland, who stand at number 56 on FIFA's list.

England had not won in five outings since beating Liechtenstein in September, but the attitude at the City of Manchester stadium was different from that adopted in previous friendlies. Instead of shattering the match, the substitutes introduced a healthy, zealous band who received the manager's rapt attention.

Only Joe Cole failed. With each superfluous trick the midfielder is adding more dead ends to the labyrinth in which his talent is trapped. There was a slight helplessness to Eriksson's smile when the subject cropped up, and since he cannot afford to concentrate on Cole it may be Jose Mourinho, at Chelsea, who determines what becomes of him.

In general, the rout of Iceland was a reminder of the sheer extent of England's resources. The right back Gary Neville had already observed that this squad is much superior to the men who contested Euro '96.

Paul Scholes is numbered among the elite by Eriksson. However, the real concern for England is how opponents will exploit him. He was nominally sited on the left on Saturday, but could stroll away from that area at will because Iceland were harmless.

The smart French will make much better use of any gaps on that flank.

ENGLAND (4-4-2): Robinson (Walker, 22); G Neville (Bridge, 46), Carragher (Defoe, 84), Campbell (Butt, 46), A Cole (P Neville, 46); Beckham (Hargreaves, 46), Lampard (Vassell, 46), Gerrard (King, 46), Scholes (J Cole, 46); Rooney (Dyer, 46), Owen (Heskey, 46). Subs not used: James.

ICELAND (3-5-2): Arason; Ingimarsson, Marteinsson (K Sigurdsson, 46), Hreidarsson; T Gudjonsson (J Gudmundsson, 78) J Gudjonsson (A Helgason, 87), Gudjohnsen, Gretarsson, I Sigurdsson (Jonsson, 78); H Helguson (T Gudmundsson, 84), H Sigurdsson (B Gudjonsson, 69). Subs not used: Finnbogason, Baldvinsson.

Referee: J Wegereef (Holland)