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England beat US 2-1
Kieran Richardson scored twice in his international debut as England defeated the United States 2-1 in a friendly match in Chicago on Saturday.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 09:51 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
Chicago:
Kieran Richardson scored twice in his international debut as England defeated the United States 2-1 in a friendly match in Chicago on Saturday. England passed the ball around confidently in the early stages in the first meeting between the clubs for 12 years. A ball over the home defence from Carrick found Andrew Johnson who was brought down on the edge of the area by Eddie Pope, who climbed up Johnson's back for a clear foul. Johnson made his England debut earlier this year as a substitute. He was second to Thierry Henry in goals scored in the Premiership this past season. Good play Kieran Richardson capped his international debut by putting England ahead 1-0 after just four minutes with a superb free-kick. Richardson curled a left-footed effort past the dive of former Spurs keeper Kasey Keller into the upper right corner of the net. But Richardson left the contest in the 59th minute, limping as he left the pitch. The fastest debut goal for England, however, was scored by Bill Nicolson against Portugal after just 54 seconds in 1951. Scoring on debut Richardson was the third player to score on his debut for England under Eriksson after Francis Jeffers against Australia and Shaun Wright-Phillips against the Ukraine. The USA came close to the scoring the equaliser when Landon Donovan's cross banged off the far post in the 20th minute. Goalkeeper David James waved at the ball but missed it just before it would strike the post. Not long after that, in the 21st minute, Joe Cole struck a left footed shot that forced Keller to dive to his right to make the save. Donovan nearly scored once again, in the 37th minute, after a fine pass from Josh Wolff, but his shot from the right side of the goal just missed the far post. Increasing the lead Late in the first half, England increased their lead to 2-0. After Eddie Pope whiffed as he tried to knock down the ball on a throw-in, Joe Cole darted in to collect the ball. He faked a shot, instead passing to a streaking Kieran Richardson, whose right-footed shot easily beat Keller from 12 metres out in the 44th minute. USA finally got on the scoresheet in the 79th minute. Landon Donovan took a free kick, and a sliding Carlos Bocanegra put a shot on goal that David James stopped, but the rebound carried directly to Clint Dempsey, whose header beat James for his first international goal. England won by a 2-1 margin. (AP)Topics mentioned in this article
Football Kieran Richardson
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