England warmed up for their World Cup clash with Croatia in midweek with a 2-1 win over Slovenia in a friendly at Wembley.
Frank Lampard's penalty put England ahead in the first half, before substitute Jermain Defoe continued his excellent form for club and country by doubling their lead after the break. Zlatan Ljubijankic scored a consolation for the visitors late on.
Slovenia may have provided marginally sterner opposition than the majority of the Wembley crowd had expected but, for the most part, Fabio Capello's side put in an encouragingly assured performance four days before they have the chance to seal their place in South Africa next year.
They have the chance to maintain their competitive 100 per cent record against the Croatia side that became their nemesis under previous boss Steve McClaren.
England deserved their lead when it came, although the manner in which it arrived was harsh on the visitors.
On the half-hour mark Wayne Rooney stumbled to the ground as he appeared to shove centre-back Bostjan Cesar, and the defender also went to ground as both players grabbed each other's shirts. To the surprise of everyone, including Rooney, Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson blew for the foul and pointed to the spot. Lampard drilled his spot-kick low and hard into the corner for his 18th international goal.
It was telling that Cesar was the one who hobbled off following the incident and did not retake the field, as he was replaced a few minutes later by Matej Mavric.
Ten minutes before Lampard's spot-kick, England had two excellent chances within moments of each other. First, Emile Heskey found Rooney with a flick-on and the Manchester United striker turned inside Miso Brecko, only for the full-back to recover and block the shot with a diving lunge.
From the subsequent corner, skipper John Terry was dominant in the air and won the header at the near post only to see it crash off the crossbar.
Half time brought with it four changes for England, with Defoe, Aaron Lennon, Michael Carrick and James Milner all coming on. Capello persisted with Robert Green in goal despite the West Ham man clearly catching the ball outside of his area in the first minutes of the match, although it was missed by the officials.
England began the second half in steady fashion, and got their reward when Lennon found Defoe with a square ball on the edge of the box. The Spurs winger continued his run, expecting a return pass, but instead Defoe struck early and fired into the bottom corner for his seventh goal of the season.
Lennon again looked lively as he scampered down the right and pulled a ball back to Rooney on the edge of the six-yard box, but somehow his strike was blocked on the line by the impressive Mavric.
Slovenia got their reward late on when substitute Necj Pecnik found Ljubijankic with a near post cross. England sub Joleon Lescott with not quick enough to react, and Ljubijankic steered his header past Green to deny the keeper a clean sheet.
> Posted by: Iconic Magazine
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