Israel-England ends in 0-0 draw

England coach: Score "disappointing," says England should have won.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
israel england game 298 (photo credit: AP)
israel england game 298
(photo credit: AP)
England was held to a 0-0 draw by Israel on Saturday in a European Championship qualifying game. Needing a victory to get back in touch with the leaders, England failed to win or score for the third straight Group E game, and the pressure is building on coach Steve McClaren. "Disappointed, frustrated," McClaren said. "To dominate the game like that, to have the chances that we did and not to score, it's disappointing and not good enough. We should have won that game."
  • English football fans visit Yad Vashem The 4,000 traveling England fans taunted McClaren by chanting, "You don't know what you're doing." "We got balls in the box. We got shots on target. Either it didn't fall for us or poor quality, poor finishing, poor decisions has cost us," McClaren said. "It's two points we dropped there. We should have won that." Midway through the first half, Israel goalkeeper Dudu Awat made a one-handed catch from Wayne Rooney's header and then dived at the feet of Frank Lampard to smother the ball. At the other end, England goalkeeper Paul Robinson dived to his right to save a powerful low shot from Toto Tomuz in the 28th minute and the 18-year-old Nigerian-born striker flashed a header just wide a minute later. Pini Balili went close for Israel in the 56th minute when he collected a pass from Yossi Benayoun and turned to fire an 16-meter left footed shot which flew wide of the post. Lampard forced Awat to make a diving block with a first-time volley in the 62nd and Rooney and Tal Ben Haim were both shown yellow cards for clashing with each other after they had tried to win the loose ball. Four minutes later, Lampard's glancing header flew across the face of the Israel goal. Then Andy Johnson flicked Steven Gerrard's cross wide and Jamie Carragher headed a corner off the bar. Substitute Jermain Defoe had a chance to snatch victory for England seven minutes from the end but Awat dashed off his line to block his shot. Israel brought on 17-year-old Ben Sahar in the 69th, but the Chelsea striker was kept at bay by club teammate John Terry. Lineups: Israel: Dudu Awat, Yuval Shpungin, Tal Ben Haim, Shimon Gershon, Yoav Ziv, Yossi Benayoun, Arik Benado, Walid Badier, Amit Ben Shushan (Gal Aberman, 87) Toto Tamuz (Dani Bodarv, 77) Pini Balili (Ben Sahar, 69). England: Paul Robinson, Phil Neville (Micah Richards, 73), John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Jamie Carragher, Frank Lampard, Owen Hargreaves, Aaron Lennon (Stewart Downing, 83), Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, Andrew Johnson (Jermain Defoe, 80).