WCup: England beats Ukraine 2-1
WEMBLEY, England (AP): John Terry scored the winning goal in the 85th minute Wednesday to lead England to a 2-1 win over Ukraine and stretch the team's winning streak to five games in World Cup qualifying.
The England captain scored from close range after Steven Gerrard had touched on David Beckham's free kick as England stayed five points clear at the top of Group 6.
Peter Crouch volleyed England into the lead in the 29th at Wembley, but substitute Andriy Shevchenko leveled in the 74th with a half-volley after the home side failed to clear a free kick.
England has 15 points from five games and Ukraine has seven from four after losing its own unbeaten record in the group.
Croatia has 10 points from five after winning at Andorra 2-0.
Wayne Rooney, who scored two goals in Saturday's 4-0 victory in a friendly against Slovakia, almost gave England an early lead with an overhead kick after good approach play by Gerrard before the home side moved in front in the 29th.
Terry met Frank Lampard's corner with a firm header and Crouch volleyed home from five meters (yards).
England goalkeeper David James had little to do in the first half but was almost caught out by a 30-meter (yard) shot from Ukraine captain Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, which struck him on the arm.
Beckham and Shevchenko, currently teammates on loan at AC Milan, were on rival benches at the start of the game and gave each other a hug before they walked out before kickoff. They went on within three minutes of each other in the second half, Shevchenko replacing fellow striker Andriy Voronin and Beckham going on for Aaron Lennon to take his England record of appearances for an outfield player to 110.
Within seven minutes of his entrance, Beckham almost made it 2-0 with a bending free kick that flashed wide of the goal.
But it was Shevchenko who hit the target in the 74th when England failed to deal with a firmly hit free kick from the right and the ball bounced off Glen Johnson to Shevchenko, who drove it home from 10 meters (yards).
The England fans in the 87,548 crowd feared their team's Group 6 run had come to an end, but Beckham swung in a free kick from the right, Gerrard stretched to pull the ball back in front of goal and Terry was ideally placed to turn it home.
Lineups:
England: David James, Glen Johnson, Ashley Cole, Gareth Barry, Rio Ferdinand (Phil Jagielka, 87), John Terry, Aaron Lennon (David Beckham, 57), Frank Lampard, Peter Crouch (Shaun Wright-Phillips, 79), Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard.
Ukraine: Andriy Piatov, Vyacheslav Shevchuk, Taras Mykhalyk, Dmytro Chrigrinsky, Grygoriy Yarmash, Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, Serhiy Valyayev (Serhiy Nazarenko, 61), Valentyn Slusar (Maksym Kalinichenko, 87) Oleksandr Aliev, Artem Milevsky, Andriy Voronin (Andriy Shevchenko, 54).
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