Kuyt and Carroll in the goals

Andy Carroll scored his debut goal for England last night, as Dirk Kuyt notched another two for his Dutch account to keep their 100% record in the Euro Qualifiers.

The reds new number 9 led the line in his second full international cap, and scored just before half-time against Ghana at Wembley in an international friendly, the goal was a powerful left footed strike.  Fabio Capello had used the press conference before the game to insist Andy Carroll should ensure he doesn’t drink too much alcohol and highlighted that the player was some way off fitness.

Andy may well have been forgiven for having a quick pint or two last night to celebrate his debut England goal.

Andy said:

“It’s great to be playing again and to have scored a goal. I’m here and ready to score goals if picked.”

He completed an hour for England – Glen Johnson played for the first half.  Ghana equalised in injury time to level the friendly at 1-1.

Meanwhile, Dirk Kuyt ‘won it’ for the Netherlands with two late goals in a pulsating 8 goal thriller.

The game was 1-0 to Holland at half-time, before Hungary hit straight back – before going in to a 2-1 lead.

At 3-3, Kuyt went on to score twice in the 78th and 81st minutes, with a volley and a lob.

After the game Dirk said:

“This really was an incredible game. We put in a very bad performance today. However, the most important thing is that we have added three more points to our tally.

“Our defensive performance simply wasn’t good enough. That’s not only the defence’s fault though. We have to defend as an entire team. Any team can score against us if we don’t do that. We didn’t follow the tactical instructions we received.”

The Dutch stay top of the group having won all 6 of their European Qualifying Games.