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| Saturday, September 7, 2002 17:43 EST |
Smith scores first goal for England
[Reuters]
BIRMINGHAM, England -- Striker Alan Smith scored his first goal for England before a defensive lapse forced the host to settle for a 1-1 friendly draw with Portugal at Villa Park on Saturday.
Smith, starting an international for the first time, headed home a cross from Lee Bowyer in the 40th minute on his Leeds teammate's England debut before unmarked substitute Costinha nodded in a 79th-minute equalizer for the visitors.
England, playing its first match since losing to Brazil in the World Cup quarterfinals, had looked convincing for much of the match, particularly before wholesale changes by Sven-Goran Eriksson after the break.
But it was made to pay as the Euro 2004 host, which failed to get past the group stage of the World Cup, rallied in the last 30 minutes.
"First half, we did very well without a doubt, also for part of the second half," said Eriksson.
"We scored a beautiful goal -- Alan Smith showed that if he keeps scoring goals like this he's ready for the senior squad. He had a very good game."
The Swede played down the slack marking which allowed the Portuguese to level.
"Unfortunately, when you make a lot of changes there's confusion over who you mark at corners -- especially when they change as well.
"People are coming in who you've never seen before and you've no idea if they're good headers or not. But in a qualification game everybody knows exactly who to mark -- it's been studied beforehand."
England, which was without the injured Sol Campbell, Kieron Dyer, Paul Scholes as well as captain David Beckham, was using the game as preparation for their Euro 2004 qualifying campaign, which starts next month in Slovakia.
Steven Gerrard, pulling the strings in central midfield, showed what England had lacked when he missed the World Cup through injury as Eriksson's men applied the early pressure.
Bowyer, Nicky Butt and Smith all tried their luck before the first clear-cut chance fell to Butt in the 17th minute, though he failed to meet Emile Heskey's square pass with a clean shot and the effort was deflected away by Fernando Meira.
Portugal, comfortable on the ball and spurred forward by Luis Figo, came close through the Real Madrid midfielder's low 20-meter drive and a swashbuckling run and shot from Sergio Conceicao.
But Smith made no mistake before the break when he rounded off a move started by goalkeeper David James's long throw upfield with a bullet header past the helpless Vitor Baia.
Bowyer, making his England debut after a court case which had ruled him of international contention for nearly three years, showed plenty of energy as he took over Beckham's position on the right.
Both managers made wholesale changes at the break, tearing much of the shape from the game.
England, beaten by the Portuguese 3-2 in its opening group game at Euro 2000, lived dangerously in the opening minutes after the re-start when Meira hit the crossbar with one header and Nuno Gomes sent another against the post.
There was another scare when substitute Luis Pereira raked in a low ball across the face of the England goal, but Gomes just failed to connect with James at his mercy.
The changes in England's rearguard were exposed, though, in the 79th minute when Costinha was given a completely free header from a corner and directed his effort just inside the left-hand post.
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