Swedish setback
With Denmark not playing, only Darius Vassell and Olof Mellberg were in action (or not, in the former’s case) on Wednesday. Mellberg’s Swedish side were expected to get a result at home to Croatia, following their comprehensive 7-0 win at Malta on Saturday. But Otto Baric’s men are of a different class and an attritional match finished 1-0 after Darijo Srna struck a sublime 25 yard free-kick past the helpless Andreas Isaksson in the 65th minute. Sweden could find no way back.
Bench-warming
Vassell, meanwhile, experienced disappointment of a different kind when he saw himself relegated further down the England pecking order by Jermain Defoe. The 21-year-old replaced Alan Smith for the game against Poland and duly vindicated Sven Gören Erikksson’s decision with a well-taken goal after 32 minutes to set England on course for a 2-1 win. With the return to fitness of Wayne Rooney, Vassell could soon find himself out of the squad altogether.
Delaney sacrificed
England’s Group 6 rivals Wales drew 2-2 in a pulsating game against Northern Ireland at the Millennium Stadium. Mark Delaney started the game but following the sendings off of three players in the opening 22 minutes – a period that also saw an equal number of goals – the Villa right-back was sacrificed to allow Robbie Earnshaw to come on. Earnshaw went on to score a belated leveller for Mark Hughes’ side.
Cole goal
Once again, the senior players were outdone by Carlton Cole who grabbed his sixth goal of the season for England Under-21s to equalise their Polish counterpart’s early opener. Interestingly, according to manager Peter Taylor, Cole then stood up in the dressing room during half-time to lecture his team-mates on their performance. England went on to win 3-1.