Fabio Capello named four Blues – Joe Hart, Joleon Lescott, Gareth Barry and James Milner – in his starting eleven, but Adam Johnson made a stellar contribution after replacing the injured Theo Walcott early on.
Adam made it two goals in as many games when he doubled England’s lead with 21 minutes to go, and Shaun Wright-Phillips added to England’s sky blue contingent as time ticked away before setting up Darren Bent for the goal that sealed a great night for club and country.
It was not such a good evening for Vincent Kompany in Istanbul. He was sent off for a second bookable offence and could only watch from the sidelines as Turkey overturned Belgium’s lead, which came courtesy of two goals from former City loanee Daniel Van Buyten, to take an exciting game 3-2.
Nigel de Jong played the full 90 minutes of the Netherlands’ 2-1 win over Finland, while Carlos Tevez played an hour of Argentina’s 4-1 win over Spain in Buenos Aires. David Silva was substituted at the break, by which time his club captain had laid on goals for Messi and Higuain while latching on to a Pepe Reina howler to bag one for himself. Shay Given was in action at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, where the Republic of Ireland beat Andorra 3-1, while young striker John Guidetti was a second half substitute for Sweden’s Under 21 side in their 1-0 victory over Bulgaria.
