Gareth Barry – Pride Of England!

Congratulations to Gareth Barry for his performance in the England team today against Israel.

The Villa skipper started his first competitive match for around five years (wasn’t it 2002, hey its Saturday night, I’ve not got time to check all my facts!) and played a perfect game with his usual concise passing and no nonsense attitude.

Barry had a hand in two of the three goals, one with an inch perfect pass through to Michael Owen – who finished with aplomb and another from a great corner converted by Micah Richards.

In other international action, Shaun Maloney provided the ammunition for Scotland’s goal today and Gabby Agbonlahor scored for the England Under-21s last night against Montenegro.

Now lets hope Barry keeps his place for the crunch game against Russia on Wednesday night. Push me hard enough and I might even admit that Amule Heskey played well today as well!

All in all, a good day for England, we won the cricket (beating India with ease and winning an entertaining one day series 4-3), we won the rugby (albeit a pretty average display against the USA) and we beat Israel in the footie. Happy days!