Arsenal defender Calum Chambers tweeted a picture of his England shirt hanging in the home dressing room at Wembley

Published: 4 September, 2014
by PAUL COWLING at Wembley Stadium

International friendly
ENGLAND 1, NORWAY 0

THE stadium might have only been half full, and it might have only been 10 minutes – but for one man England’s outing against Norway at Wembley was more than just a friendly.

Arsenal’s Calum Chambers continued his rapid rise as he came off the bench in the 80th minute on Wednesday night to make his full international debut. The 19-year-old, who just 12 months ago started the season for Southampton as back-up for Nathaniel Clyne, just couldn’t wait to post a picture of his England No. 15 shirt of social networks. He later tweeted: “What an amazing feeling to play for my country, thank you to everyone for their support!”

On any other night Chambers would have had every reason to forget an underwhelming night at Wembley as England played their first game since their disastrous showing at the World Cup in Brazil.

Pre-match, new captain Wayne Rooney had talked of England “making a noise” against Norway, but with just over 40,000 fans showing up, the overriding memory will be the constant murmur of people talking and the odd bang of a drum in a half-empty stadium.

Rooney scored the 68th-minute penalty which settled this abject match, in which an England team, fielding young talents such as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jack Wilshere and Raheem Stirling, mustered just two shots on target – one of which was Rooney’s penalty.

After the match, England manager Roy Hodgson brushed aside questions on England’s shot-shy night. 

“Don’t give me that,” he said. “Don’t hit me with statistics. We probed very well, and were good value for our victory.

“This team will score goals. These young players are prepared to take the responsibility, to receive the ball under pressure and play a positive game.”

Hodgson singled out Arsenal duo Chambers and Danny Welbeck after the game. “Welbeck was very lively when he came on, and looked sharp. And it was good to put Calum on.”

England’s sobering demotion in football’s world order will be sorely tested in Basel on Monday evening when they play Switzerland in their opening qualifying match of qualifying for the European Championships.

ENGLAND: Hart, Stones (Chambers 80), Jones, Cahill (Jagielka, 83), Baines, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Milner, 69), Wilshere (Delph, 69), Henderson, Sterling, Sturridge (Lambert, 88), Rooney (Welbeck, 69).
Subs not used: Rose, Forster, Townsend
Attendance: 40,181