That's a bit better!

England 3 Israel 0

Team line-up: Robinson, Richards, Ferdinand, Terry, A.Cole, Gerrard, Wright-Phillips, Barry, J.Cole, Heskey, Owen

Firstly I was somewhat surprised Robbo managed to keep his place in goal after his blunder in the Germany friendly, but it seems McLaren still has faith in him saying that everyone makes mistakes from time to time. I had to laugh when I heard Heskey had been recalled three years after his last cap - scraping the bottom of the barrel or what? However, as it turned out, he didn't have a bad game at all and perhaps should have scored.

England were without the likes of Beckham, Lampard, Crouch, and Hargreaves, but we needn't have worried as the team played 100% better than they did against the Germans, with Wright-Phillips easily being man of the match working tirelessly up and down the right flank.
He got the opening goal linking up with Chelsea team-mate Joe Cole to volley it through the arms of the Israeli goalkeeper. The second was a superb shot on the turn by Michael Owen and you could tell he was pleased to get back on the score sheet. The third was a strong header by Micah Richards with Israel contesting that there had been a foul on the goalkeeper - however, it was clear that he had just ran into Owen who was standing still in the area. Thankfully the referee was not fooled.

There were plenty of spurned chances throughout the game but all in all, a far better performance by England. However, Russia are the opponents on Wednesday and they will be far more difficult to beat. The question is, with several players becoming available for selection, will McLaren change a winning format?

It was nice to see England winning in three different sports on the same day - football, rugby and cricket. Mind you, it looked like a bit of a struggle in the rugby against the U.S.A. only beating them 28-10.