The win that Jack built: Wilshere brilliance eclipses Rooney winner

Midfielder scores two stunners in England’s come-from-behind 3-2 win over Slovenia

LJUBLJANA:

Wayne Rooney moved to within one goal of England’s all-time scoring record with an 86th-minute winner as his side edged Slovenia 3-2 in a topsy-turvy Euro 2016 qualifier on Sunday, with Jack Wilshere scoring two stunning long-range efforts.

Milivoje Novakovic gave Slovenia the lead against the run of play in the 37th minute at the Stozice Stadium, before Jack Wilshere broke his international duck with a pair of brilliant, almost identical second-half goals to put England ahead.

Slovenia substitute Nejc Pecnik appeared to have rescued a point with an 84th-minute equaliser but moments later Rooney atoned for two glaring earlier misses by scoring his 48th England goal, taking him level with Gary Lineker and leaving him one goal behind Bobby Charlton.

“It’s great to score the winner, but it was a great team performance,” Rooney told ITV. “We came out on the front foot for the second half and Jack Wilshere scored two great goals.”

Rooney’s strike gave England a sixth win in six qualifying games, sending them provisionally nine points clear at the Group E summit, as they finished a season unbeaten for the first time in 24 years.

“It’s a good achievement. Having a complete season (unbeaten), with eight wins and two draws, has not been done for well over 20 years,” said Hodgson. “I think the players deserve a great deal of credit for that. Now we just need to keep building on it.”

Slovenia had been leading at 1-0 half-time and were left disappointed with the way England snatched the win late on. “The England team showed their class,” said Slovenia coach Srecko Katanec. “I’m mostly sorry we came within five minutes of winning before conceding in such a naive way.”

Defending champions claim 1-0 win

Euro 2008 and Euro 2012 winners Spain made it five wins from six games in Group C by beating Belarus 1-0 at the Borisov Arena in Barysaw.

Manchester City’s David Silva got the only goal of the game in Vicente del Bosque’s 100th match in charge of La Roja, controlling a Cesc Fabregas free-kick at the back post and volleying in.

Slovakia top the group , however, after they made it six wins out of six by downing Macedonia 2-1 in Zilina.

Kornel Salata and Napoli star Marek Hamsik scored for the Slovaks, with Arijan Ademi getting one back for the visitors, who had forward Feran Hasani sent off late on.

Spain and Slovakia meet in early September, while third-placed Ukraine are not out of the running after second-half goals from Artem Kravets, Denys Garmash and the excellent Yevhen Konoplyanka secured a 3-0 win over Luxembourg in Lviv.

Russia in trouble

In Group G, Russia’s hopes of qualifying were dealt a blow as Fabio Capello’s side slumped to a 1-0 defeat at home to Austria.

Giant striker Marc Janko scored the only goal of the game with a spectacular overhead kick in the 33rd minute at Spartak Moscow’s Otkrytie Arena as they extended their lead at the top of the gropu.

After six games, unbeaten Austria — whose only previous European Championship appearance came as co-hosts in 2008 — are top with 16 points, four clear of Sweden, with Russia a further four points adrift in third, which is likely to bring with it a play-off place.

Fabio Capello, the coach of the 2018 World Cup hosts, seemed to blame his team’s performance on the “pedestrian” pace of the game in Russia. “It’s very hard to play at top speed because my players haven’t got into the habit of doing so in Russian Premier League matches,” said the Italian.

Meanwhile, Sweden won 3-1 at home to Montenegro with Marcus Berg opening the scoring before skipper Ibrahimovic, of Paris Saint-Germain, netted twice in four minutes just before half-time, with Dejan Damjanovic hitting a penalty consolation for the away side. 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16^th,  2015.

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