THE new SAS — Sinclair and Sturridge — came to Team GB’s rescue last night.
Stuart Pearce brought on Swansea’s Scott Sinclair and Chelsea’s Daniel Sturridge just as it looked as if Britain’s medal bid was collapsing.And the duo scored a goal apiece in the second half to set up a crunch final Group A match against Uruguay on Wednesday in Cardiff.
The manager admitted: “Maybe the substitutions were the real turning point. We needed that to give us a lift.”
A draw will see the Brits through but for a long time it looked as if the UAE — who had given Uruguay a scare before losing 2-1 in their opener — were going to spoil the party.
The night had started so well for the hosts after just 17 minutes.
A tremendous move that began with Ryan Giggs ended with the Welsh wizard heading home the opener.
The Manchester United star found Old Trafford team-mate Tom Cleverley, who spread the ball out to Craig Bellamy on the left.
His cross then landed perfectly on the head of Giggs to nod past Ali Khaseif.
Giggs and Bellamy might not be singing the National Anthem before the match but they are certainly on song for Team GB.
On 26 minutes Ahmed Khalil shook off Micah Richards, who did not have a bright start, and got in the box but fired wide from a difficult angle.
Then Aaron Ramsey fed Marvin Sordell who turned Hamdan Al-Kamali and let rip but Khaseif pushed it for a corner.
The UAE hero then dived well to turn away Bellamy’s fierce shot and frustrate the Wembley crowd yet again.
And then on the stroke of half-time Bellamy cut it back to Cleverley whose shot came off BOTH posts but did not go in.
Britain had two thirds of the possession in the first 45 minutes and had five efforts to UAE’s one.
That meant Pearce’s side should have disappeared over the horizon but as long as their lead remained at just one the game was on a knife-edge.
And sure enough right on the hour Amer Abdulrahman slotted through Rashed Eisa who stormed past James Tomkins and Joe Allen to slot past Jack Butland and stun Wembley.
It was the worst possible news for Pearce — particularly as David Beckham was watching.
The former England superstar’s presence attracted the cheers of an adoring crowd who spotted him in the Royal Box with Prince William and that only upped the pressure on Pearce — the man who decided there was no place in the team for him.
So it was just as well for the manager that Sinclair latched on to Bellamy’s cross and restored Britain’s lead seconds after coming on for Giggs in the 73rd minute.
Then Sturridge, who had replaced Sordell at half-time, put the gloss on the result three minutes later with a splendid lob after Cleverley’s through ball.
Pearce added: “There are still things we need to work on and it’s not all a bed of roses.”
Source : TheSun.co.uk
