ENGLAND   3                                   SPAIN   0                     World Cup football home page
Barmby 37, Heskey 54, Ehiogu 69
_____________________________________________________________________
 

This friendly between England and Spain took place on 28 February 2001 at Villa Park, Birmingham. This was the first game in charge for the new England manager, Sven Goran Eriksson as he had been released early by Italian club side Lazio. The team that played in the match is shown below:
 
The England team was:
 
                                                        David James
                                                       (Nigel Nartyn 46)
                                                       
 
  Phil Neville                    Rio Ferdinand                 Sol Campbell              Chris Powell
  (Gary Neville 77)       (Ugo Ehiogu 46)                                                   (Michael Ball 46)
 
  David Beckham               Nicky Butt                        Paul Scholes               Nick Barmby
  (Emile Heskey 46)        (Frank Lampard 46)         (Gavin McCann 46)       (Joe Cole 46)
 
 
                                 Michael Owen                    Andy Cole                           
                                         
 
 
The Spanish starting team was Cassilas, Pablo, Romero, Guardiola, Aberlardo, Aranda, Helguera, Mendieta, Raul, Enrique, Unai

This friendly was a chance for the England players to show the new England manager that they had a part to play in the World Cup 2002 qualification campaign. England won with a rather flattering 3-0 score line but against a very strong Spanish side, it was a great result. David Beckham had been given the captain's armband again and he showed that he deserved it with a solid performance.

Spain had a lot of possession early on in the game without threatening a lot. After half an hour, however, England were getting back into the match and Nicky Butt had a good chance from a corner but the keeper, Cassilas saved his header.

    
Michael Owen chips the ball on to Nick Barmby (running on to his left) who scores

After 37 minutes, England were 1-0 up. Nick Barmby came in off the left wing and received a defence splitting chip from Michael Owen to score the first England goal under the management of Eriksson.

Andy Cole and Michael Owen then had good chances but the half ended at 1-0 to England. Beckham departed to leave Sol Campbell as captain for the second half.

After 54 minutes, England were leading 2-0. Ugo Ehiogu got to a corner from Frank Lampard and headed to Heskey who volleyed the ball into the net from close range. Then after 69 minutes Ehiogu headed the ball into the net from another Lampard corner to make the score 3-0.

Martyn then had to save a penalty from Spainsh substitute Moreno after a slight push from Ehiogu in the box was spotted by the referee. At the end of the game, Spain almost got a consolation goal but Michael Ball cleared the ball away from near the England goal line.


                                                                  


Who played well:  Nick Barmby was probably the man of the match in this game but Sol Campbell and Andy Cole also had impressive games. Ugo Ehiogu made a goal and scored one and looked dominant in the air when he came on in the second half.


Click here to see the full review of England's World Cup 2002 qualification group 9 (including the final table).

Click here to see all England's results since Euro 96