England 4:1 Croatia

[Daze]

MAGNIFICENT England gained glorious revenge on their bogey team Croatia last night with their best victory for seven years.

Whizzkid Theo Walcott scored a sensational hat-trick in a 4-1 demolition in the 2010 World Cup qualifier in Zagreb.
The result — Croatia’s first home loss in 36 competitive matches — was England’s finest hour since thrashing Germany 5-1 in 2001.

And the astonishing result — bookies had a 4-1 England win at 100-1 before the match — avenged last year’s defeats by Croatia that meant England missed the Euro 2008 finals.
Arsenal winger Walcott, 19, scored his first international goals, with Wayne Rooney grabbing England’s fourth.

The incredible Three Lions performance followed Saturday’s stuttering display in the 2-0 win over qualifying group minnows Andorra.

Walcott’s first goal came after 25 minutes when he took advantage of a defensive blunder to score with a right-footed shot.

Just before the hour mark Walcott doubled the lead. Rooney scored the third and then set up Walcott to complete his hat-trick.

The youngster was 80-1 at the bookies to score three goals. Walcott, who has been dating student Melanie Slade, 19, for three years, only made his full debut against Andorra.

He said afterwards it was the best he had ever played. But he added: “It is at the moment, but I am not going to get ahead of myself.
“Obviously I will look back at it when I get home and will be watching it over and over.”

Modestly he said: “There were 11 stars, the whole team were stars.”

Of his goals, he said: “The first two were similar — I tend to cross those a lot but thought I’d be a bit more greedy this time. For the second goal, it was a great ball by Wayne Rooney.

“With the third, just the ball from Wazza (Rooney) and then the run and then just on my left foot — it was an absolute relief.”

England coach Fabio Capello, who picked Walcott rather than veteran David Beckham in the No 7 shirt, praised the teenager.

Capello said: “He is a young and dangerous player for defenders. I am very happy for him. He is one of the most important young players in England, he is so fast and dangerous.”

On choosing Walcott over Beckham — who came on for Walcott near the end — Capello added: “You have to choose one and I chose right this time. When he plays like he has this evening, he is fantastic.”
apello added: “The score is incredible and the performance is also very, very important.”

Captain John Terry also hailed Walcott — and Capello for selecting him.
Singing

Terry said: “Credit to the manager for that, credit to Theo for stepping up to the challenge. He’s been awesome all week, he has come in, got involved and that performance showed what he’s all about tonight.”

He added: “It’s fantastic to hear the fans singing, hopefully that will get them behind us even more now.”

Rooney said victory was sweeter after the Euro 2008 defeats. He said: “Tonight was a bit of revenge. You always enjoy a 4-1 victory, especially after what Croatia did to us in the last qualifying campaign.”

Fans were also overwhelmed by England’s breathtaking display.

Bus driver David Hunt, 59, of Battersea, South London, said: “I am a Tottenham fan and even though he is an Arsenal player I have to say Theo was absolutely brilliant.”

Jay Ellis, 38, of Hartlepool, added: “I thought Walcott was brilliant. I am over the moon for him. On that result we can win against any team in the world.”

Max Daly, 39, from Walthamstow, east London, said: “I thought it was absolutely brilliant and so was Theo.”

Get in!, was scared they were going to beat us, have done past 2 games.

Theo's turned into a man :thumbup1:

[James]

Thank fuck.

[Jaffa]

Don't quote the SUn, even if they have done some great interviews with "Max Daly, 39, from Walthamstow" and "Bus driver David Hunt, 59, of Battersea" :P

But yeah this totally caught me by suprise, was listening to it on the radio (the first 15 mins or so, before the goals) and it sounded like we were gonna lose badly, left, came back 30 mins later and we were 3 up :P

[Rat]

Very good, and unexpected win.

Any team that can win 4-1 with Heskey in it, is a bloody good one.

[Farmer Mick]

Don't quote the SUn, even if they have done some great interviews with "Max Daly, 39, from Walthamstow" and "Bus driver David Hunt, 59, of Battersea" :P

But yeah this totally caught me by suprise, was listening to it on the radio (the first 15 mins or so, before the goals) and it sounded like we were gonna lose badly, left, came back 30 mins later and we were 3 up :P

erm sad sad person u need 2 get a tv mmmmk?

[Repeat]

Congrats, my silly English friends!

[Farmer Mick]

Congrats, my silly English friends!

SHUT UP AND GO AND PLAY YOUR AMERICAN HAND BALL OR W/E ITS CALLED

MMK?

[Repeat]

SHUT UP AND GO AND PLAY YOUR AMERICAN HAND BALL OR W/E ITS CALLED

MMK?

Fuck you. It was sincere, you twat.

[Farmer Mick]

Fuck you. It was sincere, you twat.

ERM YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SAY TWAT IT IS AN ENGLSIH WORD BUT I SUPPOSE SEEN AS YOU STOLE ALL OUR WORDS IT MAKES OK DOES IT?? NO IT DOESNT

POKES TONGUE OUT

[Jaffa]

erm sad sad person u need 2 get a tv mmmmk?

FAIL

It was on setanta only, who the hell gets setanta sports?