Rubbish side to employ frustration tactics at Wembley

With an impressive six defeats from six games in World Cup Qualifying Group 6, one may expect Andorra to approach tomorrow night’s game against England with a quiet dignity.

Instead, the tiny nation with absolutely nothing to play for are going to try and frustrate the Three Lions, in the hope of turning the Wembley crowd against the home side. Coach David Rodrigo is quoted in The Ooh Ahh Daily Star:

“England have always had problems when they have played against us and have been made to work hard to get the first goal. That can sometimes make the players feel nervous.

“There is a big difference between the two teams but we have not got anything to lose and to play at Wembley is such a big motivation.

“England are the most dangerous team in the group and I am not going to change the system we employ because we are playing in London.”

The system to which he is referring is a park-the-bus 5-4-1 formation, designed to shut out England’s forwards. The Andorran’s may be a bunch of part-time no namers, but the tactic worked at Wembley in 2007 (when fans turned on Steve McClaren after waiting 54 minutes for a goal) and in last year’s qualifier (where travelling fans didn’t see a goal until substitute Joe Cole bagged the first of a brace in the 48th minute).

It may not keep England from scoring, but such a negative approach isn’t exactly setting the tie up to be a classic.