ENGLAND MATCH REPORTS

Owen 22 Ono 52
1. James
2. G Neville (P Neville 85)
3. Ash Cole
4. Gerrard (Hargreaves 82)
5. Terry (King 88)
6. Campbell
7. Beckham (J Cole 81)
8. Scholes (Dyer 77)
9. Rooney (Heskey 77)
10. Owen (Vassell 77)
11. Lampard (Butt 82)
Substitutes
12. Bridge
13. Robinson
14. Phil Neville
15. King
16. Carragher
17. Butt
18. Hargreaves
19. Joe Cole
20. Dyer
21. Heskey
22. Walker
23. Vassell
24. Defoe

MATCH DETAILS

Match: International Friendly
Venue: COM Stadium
Date: 1st Jun 2004
Rankings: E12 - J25
Att: 38,581
Ref: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)
Weather: Mild
Rating: 

MATCH STATS

7 Shots on target 6
5 Shots off target 5
8 Corners 5
10 Fouls conceded 10
0 Offsides 3
0 Yellow cards 0
0 Red cards 0
50% Possession 50%
1. Narazaki
2. Nakazawa
3. Miyamoto
4. Tsuboi
5. Santos
6. Ono
7. Inamoto (Fukunishi 90)
8. Kaji
9. Nakamura
10. Tamada (Suzuki 60)
11. Kubo (Yanagisawa 60)
Substitutes
12. Doi
13. Kawaguchi
14. Miura
15. Tanaka
16. Chano
17. Fujita
18. Fukunishi
19. Ogasawara
20. Endo
21. Suzuki
22. Yanagisawa
23. Motoyama
 
MINI REPORT
England started with the eleven that were expected to take to the field against France in the first group game in the European Championships and started the game very well. The passing and movement were slick and accurate and England took a deserved lead on 21 minutes with Michael Owen slotting home after Japans keeper Narazaki pushed a Steven Gerrard shot into the Liverpool strikers path.

England then stopped playing and let Japan come more into the game and they created a few good opportunities to equalise.

Japan did pull level on 52 minutes after an excellent move ripped the England defence to shreds and finished with Ono shooting the ball through the legs of David James.

Both sides had chances to win it after that but England were poor aparts from the first 25 minutes.

 

PRESS MATCH REPORTS

AFTER MATCH COMMENTS

Sven-Goran Eriksson said: "Frank Lampard deserved his chance and I think he did excellently in the first half.

"We will have to see what will happen. I have not decided yet what to do on June 13 but it looked good for almost all of the first half. I wouldn't say that Nicky Butt and Frank Lampard are exactly the same kind of players but I'm sure that Frank can do the job there just as Nicky would have done."

Eriksson added: "Gary Neville got a knock on his knee and his hip but it shouldn't be a problem. John Terry went off because he felt a little bit in his leg but it was nothing special and I am sure what happened today was nothing serious at all."

Eriksson acknowledged there is plenty of work to do in regard to the players' fitness over the next two weeks.

He added: "I am sure that on June 13 players like Rooney will be a lot better physically than they were today. I gave them nearly 90 minutes for their fitness and some of them got tired. But the day before the France game we will not practice for as long as we did yesterday."

Japan coach Zico said he had urged his side forward at half-time as they aimed to exploit spaces left in England's midfield.

Zico said: "I told them at half-time that the lion is not that big and it is just 11 against 11. They applied themselves properly and after the goal we got confident and started playing much better. But I am sure England have a chance against France because they are very good players individually and they have players who can win the match with just one free-kick."