Thursday, September 13, 2012

Stevie Sees Red As England Draw

Steven Gerrard was sent-off for two bookable offences as England came from behind to draw 1-1 with Ukraine in a World Cup qualifier at Wembley on Wednesday evening.

Having already been booked, the skipper was penalized for a late challenge in the 87th minute and the referee showed him a second yellow.

It was the first sending-off of his international career and Liverpool's No.8 will now miss the Wembley World Cup date with San Marino on Friday, October 12.

Glen Johnson played the full 90 minutes and gave an impressive display down the right flank, coming close to scoring with a good effort.

Raheem Sterling was an unused substitute and it took an 86th minute Frank Lampard penalty to earn Roy Hodgson's side a share of the spoils.

Luis Suarez returned from suspension as Uruguay came from a goal down to draw 1-1 with Ecuador.

Liverpool's No.7 played the full 90 minutes and struck the bar with a fine effort in the first half. Edison Cavani netted a 66th minute equalizer and Sebastian Coates was an unused substitute.

Elsewhere there was disappointment for Wales and Joe Allen who played 72 minutes during the 6-1 thrashing by Serbia.

There were better fortunes for Martin Skrtel who played the full 90 minutes as Slovakia beat Liechtenstein 2-0.

Our new No.4 Nuri Sahin came on as an 82nd minute replacement as Turkey beat Estonia 3-0 while Fabio Borini was an unused substitute as Italy beat Malta 2-0.

Pepe Reina also remained on the bench as an 86th minute winner from Roberto Soldado gave Spain a 1-0 win in Georgia.

Pepe's understudy Brad Jones was an unused substitute as Australia suffered a shock 2-1 loss away in Jordan.

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