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Wayne Rooney was integral to England's trouncing of
Bulgaria.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjATXVj_sv0
Fabio Capello hailed the finishing of Jermain Defoe
after watching his England side heal some of their World Cup scars
with a 4-0 qualifying victory
against Bulgaria at Wembley.
Tottenham striker Defoe scored a hat-trick and Manchester City's
Adam Johnson scored his first competitive goal for his country
while Wayne Rooney had a hand in all four goals.
Defoe said: "When you play with a new partner, it can take a bit
of time to gel but Wayne's a fantastic player and if you make runs
he will find you."
Capello, who needed a convincing competitive victory after the
shambles of England's defeat against Germany in South Africa, said:
"Defoe is always very important for us. He can shoot with his left
foot and his right and his performance was really, really good and
his movement without the ball was fantastic.''
The victory gets England off to a flying start in their group,
although one sour note for Capello was an injury to Michael Dawson,
who was carried off in the second half with what looked a nasty
knee injury.
Capello said: "I have to wait to find out about Dawson. I am not
a doctor. We have to wait for the tests, but no-one else had
problems, only Dawson.''
The Tottenham defender, however, looks certain to miss the trip
to Switzerland on Tuesday.
But Capello was buoyed by the way Wayne Rooney played in a
different striking role.
Capello said: "I played Rooney in a position different than
usual. He did very well. I spoke with him before the game.
"He had to stay just in front of the two central midfielders and
from this position to go forward and to be free. The quality of
Rooney was really high.''
Capello also praised the contribution of goalkeeper Joe Hart who
made two crucial stops and saved a Glen Johnson attempted clearance
on the line.
Capello said: "Hart is playing very, very well. He made two
fantastic saves. He is the England 'keeper and he is playing very
well. The most important thing was to win.''
Bulgaria coach Stanimir Stoilov said: "It is very hard for us to
lose this game. At the end of the game we did not play with
discipline tactically. We were a bit scared in the start and played
badly.
"Just when we had found our game we conceded the second one and
the game was over. England scored three goals on the counter-attack
which does not speak well for us.''
Stoilov admitted that the retirement from international football
of Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov was a major blow for
his country.
"For Bulgaria it is a big loss not to have Berbatov,'' he said.
"He will always be missed and if he had played today it would
probably have been a different result. We had our chances and
missed them and England scored.
"It's Berbatov's decision and we should respect that. England
have very fast forwards and we were destroyed on counter attacks in
the last minutes. We left too much space in the middle for
England.''
