Defoe the hero as England snatch draw (Roundup)

By Ben James Aug 12, 2009, 21:22 GMT

Amsterdam - Jermain Defoe scored two second-half goals as England came from 2-0 down at half-time to clinch a 2-2 draw against the Netherlands Wednesday in an international friendly in Amsterdam.

The Tottenham Hotspur striker came off the substitutes' bench for the second half and turned the match on its head with two goals after Dirk Kuyt and Rafael van der Vaart had made England pay for two defensive errors.

Another substitute, Carlton Cole, almost won it for England in the closing minutes when he headed just wide from a corner.

Defoe admitted it was probably his best performance in an England shirt.

'I thought we were a bit unlucky with the goals in the first half, but we were much better in the second half,' he said. said.

'We got a lot stronger and I think we deserved to get the draw, and it's great to score two goals.

'The first one I just told the boys I was going to try and stay on the shoulder of the defence, and the second one James Milner put a great ball and I just gambled and it was nice to see it go in.'

Holland, who have already qualified for next summer's World Cup finals, were the better side in the opening 45 minutes against an England team missing the injured Steven Gerrard and David James.

Robert Green was given a starting place in goal while Ashley Young replaced Gerrard on the left and David Beckham started on the right, with Emile Heskey partnering Wayne Rooney in attack.

Holland began confidently, stringing a series of neat passing moves together but they were gifted the first goal on nine minutes. England tried to play the ball out of defence but Rio Ferdinand under-hit a backpass allowing Kuyt to get on the end of it.

The Liverpool striker evaded Green and ignored the option of an unmarked Robin van Persie to slot the ball in off John Terry who was trying to cover on the line.

England gradually got themselves into the game and a nice pass from Beckham found full-back Glen Johnson well forward and cutting in from the right. He slipped the ball to Frank Lampard and Dutch goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg did well to stop his goalbound effort.

England thought they had a penalty when a flick by Gareth Barry looked to bounce off the arm of Manchester City midfielder Nigel de Jong, but the referee waved away the appeals.

Van Persie smashed a shot just wide but then with seven minutes to go before half-time, Barry played a terrible pass straight to Arjen Robben. The former Chelsea winger's shot was saved by Green but Van der Vaart slipped the rebound into the empty net.

England manager Fabio Capello made three changes at half-time, bringing on Michael Carrick for Barry, Shaun Wright-Phillips for Beckham and Defoe for Heskey, while Van Persie and Van der Vaart went off for Holland.

And Defoe made an immediate impression as he pulled one back on 48 minutes. Rooney was fouled in midfield, but the referee played the advantage and Lampard lifted the ball through to Defoe, who stayed ahead of the Holland defence and then slid a neat finish into the corner.

England then replaced Rooney with Carlton Cole and James Milner came on for his debut, and both men were impressive as England pushed for an equalizer.

On 76 minutes, they got it. Milner won the ball on the left as Holland's defence were caught napping and after charging into the area, he slipped the ball across for Defoe to slide in to make it 2- 2.

Cole went close a couple of times as England chased the winner, while Johnson fouled Ryan Babel on the edge of the area with two minutes to go but Wesley Sneijder's free-kick was deflected away for a corner, which England eventually cleared.