England Cruise to Qualifying Win at Moldova

Frank Lampard heads home his second goal of the match.

England could probably not have asked for a better start to their 2014 World Cup Qualifying campaign.  The Three Lions headed to Moldova, where they easily sailed to a 0-5 win over their obviously overmatched hosts.

England took control of the match from the opening whistle, and their first scoring chance arrived after Moldova conceded a penalty kick for a handball in the box.  The defender didn't know much about it, as it was really ball to hand, but England didn't care a bit.  Frank Lampard stepped up and drilled the PK into the bottom corner to give the Three Lions the 0-1 lead on four minutes.

England kept up massive pressure on the Moldova goal and Jermaine Defoe had a couple of great chances to double the lead.  In the 9th minute the ball dropped to him right in front of goal, but he tapped his shot wide of the near post.  Then in the 11th Steven Gerrard hit him with a nice through ball, but a diving save by the Moldova 'keeper denied the Spurs' striker.

Moldova did try to come to life a little bit midway through the first half.  In the 26th minute Alexandru Gatcan had a nice look, but John Terry stepped in to block the shot.  A minute later Artur Patras forced a bit of a clumsy save from Joe Hart, but it would be about as close as Moldova would get all night.

England finally added a second goal in the 29th minute.  Liverpool man Glen Johnson found Lampard lurking at the back of the six with a spot on cross, and Lamps easily headed it inside the far post to give England the 0-2 lead.  They weren't finished for the half though, as Defoe collected a through ball from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and tapped home an easy finish on 32 minutes to make it 0-3 heading into the interval.

The second half was not played to the tempo of the first as England took their foot of the gas a bit.  Moldova never really threatened though.  In the 74th minute the Three Lions cruised up the pitch on a counter attack, and set up some nice one touch passing in the Moldova box.  The ball finally fell to James Milner who slotted home his first international goal to make it 0-4.  Leighton Baines would add another goal off of a deflected free kick in the 84th minute to make the final score 0-5 to the Three Lions.  It was the Everton defender's first England goal as well.

For the most part, it was exactly the kind of performance fans were looking for from England.  The side wasn't tentative at all, and really came out and bossed the game against a lower quality opponent.  Moldova clearly didn't have the defense to stop England or the offense to test them, and the right result was achieved without much trouble.  Next up England host the Ukraine at Wembley on Tuesday.