Portsmouth Football Club News

Several Pompey stars had a good weekend for their countries in the race to reach next summer’s World Cup in South Africa. Glen Johnson played 75 minutes in Almaty as England recovered from a shaky start to thrash Kazakhstan 4-0 in Group 6. The right-back set up Wayne Rooney to score the Three Lions’ third goal on 73 minutes, before he was replaced by David Beckham moments later. Gareth Barry had opened the scoring on 40 minutes with Emile Heskey adding a second just before the interval. Rooney put the result beyond any doubt with a neat finish and Frank Lampard struck from the spot after Heskey had been hauled to the ground. Peter Crouch was an unused substitute, while David James missed out after undergoing surgery on his shoulder last month. Victory leaves England on the brink of qualification and they can move another step closer with a win against minnows Andorra at Wembley on Wednesday. Fabio Capello’s men will be boosted by the news that their two closest rivals – Croatia and Ukraine – shared the points with a 2-2 draw in Zagreb. Niko Kranjcar played no part in that match despite being named on the bench. The midfielder has only recently returned to full fitness after missing the end of Pompey’s season with an ankle injury. Nadir Belhadj played the full 90 minutes for Algeria as they eased to a 3-1 victory against Egypt to go top of Group C in the African qualifying section. Kanu came off the bench to play the second half for Nigeria and help the Super Eagles beat Kenya 3-0 in Group B. There was not such good news for Hermann Hreidarsson, however. The Iceland skipper could not stop his side from going down 2-1 at home to Holland in Group 9.

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