It’s hard to find a picture of Roy Hodgson smiling, his usual demeanour utterly devastated or beleaguered or chastened or droopy or a bit of each. But today, after the weekends reviling words, relieving himself from reliving that agony, a relieved man.
An England relying on strong and quick counterattacking found success through Rooney, Sterling, and Welbeck combining to produce the first goal just after the second half. Gokhan Inler’s soft touch was pounced on by Sterling, and in a flash Rooney raced off with the ball with Sterling breaking to his left, and Welbeck heading to the far post. Nanoseconds later, Sterling’s precision pass to Welbeck was steered into goal to give England the lead. In the dying minutes of the match, the second also came from a breakaway again initiated by the indefatigable Sterling who released Ricky Lambert and the Liverpool frontman set up Welbeck, the Arsenal man curling it past Yann Somer for the perfect finish. On the other hand, Switzerland, save for the last 10 minutes really did not press England too hard with Hans Seferovic breaking through but being forced outside by Joe Hart and his goalbound shot blocked by a sliding Gary Cahill.
Switzerland is about the toughest opposition in the group. The rest is almost Swiss cheese. Next up, brave but hapless San Marino, and a chance to pad the scoreline and go for personal glory.
Welbeck’s performance continues a growing angst amongst Utd fans. A dawning realization their homegrown talent might be the beneficiary of Arsenal’s more technical and all around game raising his goalscoring record. That might be hard to take, given being used to slating him for his no shows in front of goal.
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