Defoe double rescues England draw

Holland 2 England 2. Fabio Capello's England team battled back from a two-goal deficit at half time to draw with Holland last night in Amsterdam, but the Italian manager will have taken as many negatives from the game as positives.

After howlers from Rio Ferdinand and Gareth Barry gifted the Dutch two easy goals in the first 45 minutes - with a third only being narrowly averted by a sharp save from the impressive Robert Green - substitute Jermain Defoe pulled back a goal four minutes into the second period.

England continued to push for the equaliser, and were rewarded when Defoe and fellow reserve James Milner combined beautifully down the left for the Spurs man to double his tally. Fellow sub Carlton Cole almost stole victory for the visitors but headed wide when in a good position.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
Oliver Kay, the Times: "There were times last night when it seemed as if some of England’s players, like revellers on a stag party, could do most damage to their reputation on a feckless night in Amsterdam, but by the time this topsy-turvy encounter came to an end, it seemed clear that the man who had lost most from the evening was Michael Owen. Such an appraisal may seem harsh on Owen, but the impact made at the Amsterdam ArenaA by Jermain Defoe, coming on at half-time to turn an embarrassing 2-0 deficit into an uplifting 2-2 draw, will not be forgotten by Fabio Capello."

Kevin McCarra, the Guardian: "The errors smacked of times and managers gone by, even if the side had some reasonable moments when launching attacks of their own. It was hard for those efforts to compensate for the incompetence in mind. Rio Ferdinand, in particular, will have dreaded his return to the dressing room at the interval. He can seldom have been so hapless for club or country.The other Dutch goal in the first half at least ensured that someone else could be reproached, with Gareth Barry giving the ball away for that one. The normal disciplines of football at any level, let alone in the international sphere, had disappeared where England were concerned."

Henry Winter, Daily Telegraph: "Not until Capello got to grips with his players during the interval, cranking up that famous hairdryer, making wholesale changes, and particularly the insertion of Jermain Defoe for the ineffectual Emile Heskey, did England resemble an international force. Until then, carnage. During the first half, memories of past embarrassments to the Dutch came flooding back, of Ronald Koeman’s free kick, of Marc Overmars showing that you can beat Des Walker, earning a penalty at Wembley. During the opening period’s evisceration of England’s defence, there were even echoes of Marco van Basten’s hat-trick in Düsseldorf when a young Tony Adams was given the runaround. Rio Ferdinand and John Terry were the chastened ones here."

Martin Samuel, Daily Mail: "If the win against Croatia in Zagreb was the high point of Capello's time in charge so far, this first-half display was the low. England threatened only with speculative high balls and were a shambles at the back, where Rio Ferdinand appeared to have tuned out for the night, Glen Johnson looked desperately nervous and Gareth Barry, supposedly the sentinel, was an accident waiting to happen. Since Sven Goran Eriksson left non-competitive internationals almost devoid of meaning, there has been a change of attitude in England." ·