One positive to come out of the game was the initial behaviour of the Enlgand fans, they did not boo the Serbia & Montenegro national anthem and sang along as ever to 'God save the Queen'.
However the F.A. and the England supporters could be in hot water with UEFA after the fans through paper aeroplanes in the direction of the pitch.
UEFA take a dim view of such hurtful items being thrown at players, just look at the non-existant punishments dished out to Spain and Italy after various items, including radio's, which have appeared on their football pitches over the years.
My main quarrel with the game was the sheer number of substitutes and stoppages.
Every single Serbian player was changed at some point on the game and the England side saw only goalkeeper David James complete the game.
|
Mr Zilic positioned his wall to cover the right-hand side of his goal and then went and hid himself behind them, leaving his left hand side completely exposed. congratulations to Cole for spotting it however.
If he wants to see how all 24 players would perform in an Enlgnad shirt, instead of playing them for half a game each, why not just arrange two friendly games!!
I suppose we won...
----------------------------
ENGLAND (4-3-1-2): D James (West Ham United) — D Mills (Leeds United; sub: J Carragher, Liverpool, 61min), G Southgate (Middlesbrough; sub: J Terry, Chelsea, 46), M Upson (Birmingham City; sub: G Barry, Aston Villa, 84), A Cole (Arsenal; sub: W Bridge, Southampton, 46) — S Gerrard (Liverpool; sub: O Hargreaves, Bayern Munich, 46), P Neville (Manchester United; sub: J Beattie, Southampton, 87), F Lampard (Chelsea; sub: J Cole, West Ham United, 61) — P Scholes (Manchester United; sub: J Jenas, Newcastle United, 46) — M Owen (Liverpool; sub: W Rooney, Everton, 46), E Heskey (Liverpool; sub: D Vassell, Aston Villa, 61). Substitutes not used: P Robinson (Leeds United), I Walker (Leicester City).
SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO (3-4-2-1): D Jevric (Vitesse Arnhem; sub: D Zilic, FK Sartid, 67) — Z Mirkovic (Fenerbahçe; sub: N Brnovic, FK Zeta, 46), N Vidic (Red Star Belgrade; sub: D Kovacevic, Real Sociedad, 82), D Stefanovic (Vitesse Arnhem; sub: M Krstajic, Werder Bremen, 50) — S Markovic (FC Zeleznik; sub: Z Njegus, Seville, 67), I Duljaj (Partizan Belgrade; sub: B Boskovic, Red Star Belgrade, 46), N Kovacevic (Red Star Belgrade; sub: N Malbasa, Partizan Belgrade, 46), B Dmitrovic (Sturm Graz; sub: G Trobok, Partizan Belgrade, 46) — Z Vukic (Partizan Belgrade; sub: N Djordjevic, FK Obilic, 46), S Ilic (Partizan Belgrade; sub: P Mijatovic, Levante, 67) — N Jestrovic (Anderlecht; sub: S Milosevic, Espanyol, 75). Booked: Vidic.
Referee: P Allaerts (Belgium).
----------------------------
Other Reports:
England-mad
The Sun
The Times