MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

England Coach Bemoans 'Silly' Mistakes

Coach Fabio Capello

England's football coach Fabio Capello described the two goals conceded by his team, in a “friendly” international match against the Netherlands as 'silly mistakes'.

He was annoyed by the fact that first of all Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United) and then Gareth Barry (Manchester City) passed the ball to opposition players. They were mistakes: 'that you make in training sometimes but you hope will not be made in an important game' said Capello.

Firstly Liverpool's Dirk Kuyt and then Rafael van der Vaart (Real Madrid) seized upon the errors to score for the Netherlands who have already qualified for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Despite conceding two easy goals England fought back in the Amsterdam Arena before a 50,000 crowd, to draw the match 2-2, as substitute Jermain Defoe (Tottenham) scored twice.

With the Netherlands ahead 2-0 at half-time it was said Capello: 'Very important that we came back strong in the second half and we did that'. He also praised substitutes Carlton Cole (West Ham) and James Milner (Aston Villa) for their considerable contributions. Milner played an important role in the build-up for the second goal as he disposessed Dutch defender John Heitinga (Athletico Madrid) and crossed for Defoe to score. He frequently beat Heitinga for pace.

Cole surprised everyone with his mobility and skill and troubled the shaky Dutch defence throughout the second half. He twice hit the ball over the crossbar when it seemed he would score.

The Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk also spoke of the defensive mistakes by his team which allowed England to equalise. 'In the 1st half we played very good with steadiness and confidence, but in the 2nd half we were troubled by Cole who put us under pressure and we too made silly mistakes which I prefer not to have' said van Marwijk, whose son-in-law Mark van Bommel was unable to play because of injury.

The British newspapers however were critical of their teams performance. Martin Samuel of the Daily Mail wrote that: 'England were a shambles at the back'. He said that based on this unsteady performance everyone should forget about the possibility of England winning the World Cup next year.

Matt Lawton wrote: 'Both backpasses (by Ferdinand and Barry) were pretty damn awful. Such setbacks always occur when England declare themselves good enough to win the World Cup.'

Despite winning all seven qualifying games to date, England still need 3 further points to ensure their qualification for South Africa.

7,000 England fans made the journey across to Holland for the game. The Dutch police were kept busy as minor squabbles broke out between the rival fans. German tourists visiting Amsterdam were not amused by the frequent singing by English supporters of 2nd World War anti-Germans slogans such as: There were 10 German bombers in the air .....but the Royal Air Force shot one down.

This was continually repeated with one German bomber being 'lost' every-time until finally the song ended with the line: 'There were NO German bombers in the air!

Said one German tourist: 'The war ended more than 60 years ago and there is no need for this type of songs when we all want now to be friends'.

By Patrick Watts - MercoPress - Amsterdam