International friendly, Wembley Stadium - England 1 (Rooney 68 pen) Norway 0
An abominably boring match saw England scrape a 1-0 victory against Norway at a half-empty Wembley Stadium.
Looking to impress the fans after their poor performance at the World Cup, England served up a staggeringly lacklustre first 70 minutes. Steven Gerrard might have retired, but Wayne Rooney was just as capable of failing to inspire, instruct or take charge of his England side. Indeed, he was one of the worst players on the pitch - at one point standing on the ball in the box to end an attack, and then losing the ball with his subsequent pass.
The only surprise in the first half was that the Wembley crowd of just 40,181 (the lowest at Wembley for an England game since it reopened in 2007) did not boo the team off. Only the Liverpool duo of Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling impressed.
In the second half, Rooney broke the deadlock after Sterling was tripped in the box, converting with a well-taken penalty. Once Rooney was subbed, England came alive, with verve and penetration around the box, but couldn’t add to the score.
Fabian Delph and Calum Chambers came on to make their debuts but England have plenty of problems and Rooney is the biggest.
-- Eurosport
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