SOCCER/World Cup Countdown, England B 1 Belarus 2: A B international in which England intended to hone their fitness brought only a serious injury to Robert Green and, much less importantly, a defeat.
The Norwich goalkeeper, brought on for David James at half-time, seemingly ruptured a groin as he took a goal-kick in the 50th minute and Vitaly Kutuzov capitalised to level the score.
Belarus were reduced to 10 men when Sergei Omelyanchuk, in the space of a few moments, committed two bookable offence to be sent off after 73 minutes.
Nonetheless, Sergei Kornilenko was to take a pass from his fellow substitute Nikolai Kashevsky to escape Michael Dawson and notch the winner impressively six minutes later.
If the idea of these games is to raise morale, it must be a good idea to pick opponents with obvious limitations. Having failed to qualify for the World Cup finals, Belarus fitted the bill in one glaring respect and duly fell behind to a Jermaine Jenas goal in the 35th minute, but they also had a specific weakness that helped England to a sprightly opening.
Were it not for Theo Walcott's inclusion in the squad there would have been hullabaloo over Aaron Lennon's promotion. After all, he, too, is a teenager and, what is more, one who has now established himself as a Premiership regular for Tottenham Hotspur. The confidence that comes from such status was obvious immediately to all at the Madejski stadium.
When the toiling Omelyanchuk fouled him in the ninth minute, the winger could have gone down and accepted the free-kick but he instead kept his balance and ran clear. The low cut-back was studiously directed, but Peter Crouch had run off-side and the cheers as his shot hit the net had to be stifled.
Michael Owen, captain for the evening, was the player whose display was most important to England. The fixture would have been justified even it had been arranged solely for his benefit since the Newcastle United forward had not started a fixture since breaking his metatarsal at the very end of 2005. His instincts and movement at least were unaltered.
Michael Carrick, who passed well even if his defensive aptitude was not tried often enough by Belarus, found the captain as he moved towards the left in the fifth minute. The scope that Owen enjoyed, however, was negated by the time he took after deciding to switch the ball to his right foot. Yury Zhenov advanced to save.
The striker actually betrayed his rustiness at the England goal 11 minutes before half-time, but the referee David McKeon was also out of touch. Owen had stayed in an offside position as Stewart Downing curled a free-kick, but the offence went unnoticed as he was in the midst of Belarus players when he headed against the bar. Jenas slotted home the rebound.
Green's misfortune would have been comic had it not been so grotesque for him. The Norwich player's left leg buckled beneath him as he took a goal-kick and he was carried off on a stretcher with what looked like a ruptured groin. The ball rolled to Vitaly Kutuzov, who did not allow any notion of sportsmanship to distract him from accepting the chance as Green lay on the ground.
ENGLAND B: James (Green 45), Hargreaves, Campbell, Carragher, Ashley Cole, Lennon, Jenas (Walcott 62), Carrick, Downing (Defoe 79), Owen (Joe Cole 61), Crouch (Dawson 79), Green (Carson 53). Subs not used: Bridge, Phil Neville, Johnson. Goals: Jenas 35.
BELARUS: Zhevnov (Khomutovsky 45), Kulchy, Lentsevich, Omelyanchuk, Shtanuk, Korytsko, Yurevich (Shagoiko 61), Bulyga (Kornilenko 45), Romaschenko (Kashevsky 74), Kalachev (Pankovets 80), Kutuzov (Kontsevoy 64). Subs not used: Sulima. Sent off: Omelyanchuk (73). Booked: Romaschenko, Omelianchuk. Goals: Kutuzov 50, Kornilenko 81.
Referee: D McKeown (Ireland).
