England 3 Israel 0
8 September 2007

Attendance: 85,372

England played their first competitive match at the new Wembley Stadium on 8 September 2007 in a Euro 2008 Championships qualifier against Israel. The sides last met in Tel Aviv on 24 March 2007 in the same qualification campaign with the match finishing goalless. The Israelis began the match as joint leaders of Group E, level with Croatia on 17 points with England in fourth on 14 points.

Steve McClaren’s squad had been hit by injuries in the build up to the match with David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard among the absentees. Peter Crouch was also forced to sit out through suspension.

Pavarotti's Nessun Dorma was played before the teams came out to honour the tenor's funeral in Modena today. The Israeli fans were in good spirits and vocal throughout. It was an expectant England crowd that greeted the team as they arrived on the pitch. Our fans were not disappointed. Heskey came close to opening the scoring on his return to the England squad in the 10th minute but the ball went over the bar. It was Shaun Wright-Phillips who scored first in the 20th minute by volleying home Joe Cole's cross.

In the first minute of the second half Michael Owen scored his debut goal at the new Wembley Stadium. Gareth Barry played a crisp pass into Owen's feet 18 yards out and he swivelled and shot into the top corner giving Aouate no chance.

Micah Richards made his own international senior team goal debut by heading home Gareth Barry's free kick  and scoring England's final goal. Israel had no answers and no response.

England move into third in Group E after their win against Israel. "It was a good performance today, a good win and we have to follow that up against Russia on Wednesday," said the England Head Coach.

England return to Wembley on 12 September for the second of their back to back Euro 2008 Championships qualifiers, this time against Group E rivals Russia. For more information on this event, click here.