Holland 1 England 1

IF Steven Gerrard’s shooting boots had been in working order, England would have won.

Or had the defence not switched off with four minutes left to allow Rafael van der Vaart to score, Steve McClaren’s men would have emerged triumphant.
Maybe that is just the way it is going for the England coach.
But at least boss McClaren could content himself with the fact his side discovered how to pass the ball from A to B in Amsterdam — famous for its waccy baccy.
After the horrors of the home draw against Macedonia and the away defeat in Croatia when the 3-5-2 experiment was ripped to shreds, this was a flicker of hope for the future.
For the most part England looked bright and purposeful.
There was a goal for Wayne Rooney, a welcome return for the excellent Joe Cole and a promising debut from Micah Richards, who managed to keep the shackles on the dangerous Arjen Robben — no mean achievement.
There is also some merit in persisting with a player with pace and movement as a foil for Rooney.

 Andy Johnson was given the chance to prove he should be the man and, while he never found a way behind the defence himself, there was a better flow to England’s game than with Peter Crouch.

That is not Crouch’s fault — he is a different sort of player. At 6ft 7in Crouch is what he is — a target man.

But, when Crouch is in the side, the temptation to launch the ball long takes over. That often results in England losing it cheaply and retreating on to the back foot.

McClaren needs to find a player with a little bit more of a cutting edge than Johnson for England to be at their most effective. The ideal player would probably be an injury-free Michael Owen with the pace he possessed as a teenager. Sadly, we may be past the day when we see that again. This was only a friendly and the problems of qualifying for Euro 2008 remain. But now there is reason to believe this can be achieved.

England had by far the better chances and Gerrard missed two of the best. His first opportunity came on 13 minutes when he capitalised on a misplaced pass from the ponderous Chelsea full-back Khalid Boulahrouz and broke away.

Gerrard was staring at the whites of goalkeeper Henk Timmer’s eyes but his shot hit the inside of the diving keeper’s thigh and deflected for a corner.

Had Rooney realised how much time was available, he would have scored himself just short of the half-hour mark.

Joe Cole’s cross from the left was only half-cleared by a Dutch defence and Rooney, standing on the edge of the six-yard box, did not realise there were no defenders behind him.

He could have brought the ball down and volleyed but he chose to head it and Timmer saved easily.


ROO THE MAN ... Ferdinand and Cole
congratulate scorer Rooney

Van der Vaart looked dangerous for the Dutch and ripped a fierce shot just past Paul Robinson’s right post. But another Joe Cole cross, this time from the right, produced England’s goal in the 37th minute.

Rooney got between the central defenders and somehow bundled the ball in from close range off his heel.

England — featuring eight of the team which was the preferred starting line-up at the World Cup — looked unusually comfortable on the ball for lengthy periods.

And, with Richards sticking to Robben like glue, Holland were finding it difficult to create.

Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt got few opportunities and the one time he threatened a shot, Joe Cole made a superb tackle to block the danger.

Michael Carrick’s miskick from a Boulahrouz cross resulted in Clarence Seedorf volleying past the right post early in the second half.

The Manchester United midfielder nearly made up for his error with a screamer which just flew past a post.

McClaren resisted making any changes until after the 70th minute — the longest an England team has played together in a friendly for five years.

Shaun Wright-Phillips replaced Johnson and he was lucky to get away with a foul on his Chelsea team-mate Robben in the penalty area. Replays showed Robben had a case for a spot-kick but the winger falls to the ground so often he has lost the right to the benefit of the doubt.

Robben had a hand in the Dutch equaliser — quite literally — because it was his throw-in which caused pandemonium.

It was shades of the late equaliser by Sweden at the World Cup as the ball was flicked on by Celtic substitute Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink.

England failed to clear, Robinson thought about a punch but was obscured by two players and retreated to his goal-line.

This left the grateful Van der Vaart to slam home at the far post.

Skipper John Terry debated the issue with Robinson, who clearly felt his defenders were in position to deal with the threat.

Despite this setback, England still had a great chance to win in the final minute when Gerrard swapped headers with Terry then chipped the ball forward only to hit his shot against the goalkeeper.

It would have been a cracker to finish but maybe victory would have made everybody over-optimistic again.

As England have learned, there has been quite enough of that