Published: 2 June, 2014

 

By PAUL COWLING at Wembley Stadium

 

International friendly

England  3, Peru 0

 

 

 

ROY Hodgson and his England squad leave on a jet plane tomorrow for the next stage of their World Cup preparations, and to be honest, most of us know when they will be back again. That assumption was confirmed last night at Wembley, as England flattered to deceive against poor opposition.

 

England enjoyed the majority of possession, but created little. Although they improved as the game went on, they were sloppy at the back, early on, and gave the visitors three chances to score, but all were spurned. 

 

As The Three Lions look  ahead to the perils of Group D. Italy and Uruguay will surely make England pay for their mistakes and England's World Cup will be over.

 

Peru got their tackles in, and with England struggling to break the visitors down, it really did look as if the toils of the Premier League had already taken its toll.

Only a great strike from the impressive Daniel Sturridge rescued this game for the impressive 83,000 crowd, who, with Prince William in the stands, were not royally thrilled as they would have hoped. 

 

The fans made their own entertainment with paper planes, that came into land from the stands.  A splendid bird soared past the bottom two tiers before landing a few inches short of the goalline in the first half, and then the biggest roar of the night came when a third tier glider struck the head of Hansell Riojas, the Peruvian defender, who was making his debut at the sharp end of  international football. 

 

Typically, Roy Hodgson chose to talk about the crowd after the match, rather than to address criticisms of any of his players – particularly Wayne Rooney, who had a poor game.

' I am very happy with all my striking options' said a defiant Hodgson. 'We have two weeks of training to get it right.'

 

Rooney's enthusiasm cannot be questioned, and he lacks match sharpness. But, I can see another major tournament passing him by.

 

But, Rooney wasn't on his own. There was no midfield, meaning Steven Gerrard was plonking, rather than spraying 40 yard passes, and they went to nobody. Danny Welbeck was bambi on ice  – he was awful, but not as bad as Glen Johnson.

 

How England need a right-sided version of Luke Shaw. Johnson's sloppiness allowed in Luis Ramirez  late in the first half, but at least Joe Hart was able to block the shot.

 

By then, England were 1-0 up on 35 minutes , thanks to Sturridge, who curled a fine shot into the top left hand corner of goalkeeper Raul Fernandez's net.

 

'it was a fantastic goal by Sturridge,' purred  Hodgson. But, Hodgson didn't want to single out the in-form striker. 'I am excited by them all. We have a good squad of players.' said Hodgson.

 

To be fair, there were other positives.

 

There was a clean sheet, there were no injuries. The consistent Leighton Baines delivered two set pieces for the other two goals (vital in the stifling heat of Brazil), and there were glimpses of touch from Adam Lallana, and from substitutes Raheem Sterling and Ross Barkley, who enjoyed their late cameos.

 

Another substitute, Arsenal's Jack Wilshere, had a quiet game up until the point his deft flick set up James Milner in the penalty area, but the Manchester City midfielder was too slow to the ball. 

 

'It was most important that we came through unscathed. It didn't look like it would be that comfortable, but the result was not in doubt. And what a send off too in front of 85,000 fans.' said Hodgson.

 

But, this was a flattering scoreline, and left just as many questions as answers. Should Wayne Rooney be dropped, should Ross Barkley and Raheem Sterling start, and should Jordan Henderson or Jack Wilshere partner Steven Gerrard in midfield?

 

Is there an alternative to Glen Johnson at the back, and will Roy Hodgson regret not taking Ashley Cole on the plane to Brazil?

 

If this friendly was meant to mimic what might happen against Group D opponents Uruguay, by the end it looked more akin to how England will do against Costa Rica, the last of their opponents on June 24th.  By then, Andrea Pirlo's perceptive passing might be too much for England, while Uruguay's Edison Cavani, and even a half fit Luis Suarez will surely expose England's defensive flaws and the space that will be created by a less than solid England midfield.

 

Tomorrow, England fly out to Miami, and two further warm up games against Ecuador and Honduras. 

After that, Roy Hodgson will have little time to get it right before England face up to Italy in the jungle heat of Manaus on June 14th. Lose against the Italians,  and England's World cup hopes will have nosedived like a paper plane.

 

England: Hart, Johnson, Cahill, Jagielka (Smalling 72), Baines (Stones), Gerrard (Wilshere 64), Henderson, Lallana (Milner, 72), Rooney (Sterling 65), Welbeck, Sturridge (Barkley 82). Subs: Foster,  Lampard, Lambert,Flanagan, Forster.

Attendance: 83,578