Match Report: England 0 Honduras 0

England were left flustered and frustrated as their final World Cup preparations didn’t go according to plan.

They would have been hoping for a low-key afternoon and a morale-boosting victory. Instead, they were unable to break down their ten-man opponents, while they had to deal with inclement Miami weather which forced a 40-minute suspension in play because of an electrical storm.

Daniel Sturridge missed the two best chances, yet the match backed up the impression that England look threatening going forward but could be vulnerable against better opposition at the other end.

However, Roy Hodgson should be grateful his squad came through the match unscathed as some of the challenges from Honduras were far from friendly.

They picked up four yellow cards and one red, with Celtic full-back Emilio Izaguirre also lucky not to receive his marching orders.

For the last game before flying to Brazil, Hodgson had reverted to the same XI that beat Peru at Wembley last week. That meant ten changes from the starting line-up against Ecuador, with Wayne Rooney the sole survivor.

But the wise money would be on this to be the team for the Italian job in Manaus on Saturday.

One of the players possibly not certain of a place is Danny Welbeck, who was keen to impress. That showed as he tested Noel Vallardares with an early shot, which the goalkeeper was grateful to gather at the second attempt.

The Honduras ‘keeper was called into action shortly afterwards as Rooney tried his luck from a long-range free-kick, and his save was unconvincing at best.

England were far more threatening and they really should have scored after 20 minutes after good link-up in attack as Welbeck dummied Rooney’s ball into the path of Sturridge inside the area.

On his left foot and with the goal at his mercy, amazingly he shot wide of the far post.

It was certainly not the sort of finishing he had displayed all season for Liverpool, and such misses would be even more costly next week.

However, just as the match was beginning to liven up, the players were ordered off the pitch by referee Ricardo Salazar with an electrical storm in the area.

Eventually, play resumed after a 40-minute delay, but it took a while for England to regain their composure.

A sloppy piece of play from Adam Lallana presented a chance for Jerry Bengtson but he could only shoot straight at Joe Hart.

The heat had obviously got to the Hondurans as they embarked on a period of five minutes of excessive physical play.

Sturridge, Leighton Baines and Steven Gerrard all felt the force of challenges, before Sturridge was involved in a nasty incident with Izaguirre.

The Celtic left-back not only tripped the England No. 9 but he kicked the loose ball into him from barely a yard away while Sturridge was on the floor.

He was rightly incensed but showed admirable restraint, while Izaguirre was lucky to escape with just a booking for his under-hand play.

Gerrard and Rooney were both withdrawn at half time with Jack Wilshere and Ross Barkley sent on in their place.

The two new arrivals linked up almost immediately with Barkley curling a 25-yard effort narrowly off target following Wilshere’s clever lay-off.

Another astute pass from the Arsenal man looked to have put Barkley though, only to be stopped by a terrific last-ditch tackle from Izaguirre.

Hodgson’s men continued to threaten and Welbeck was denied by an instinctive block from Valladares as he nipped in front of the defenders. Eventually, Honduras’ heavy-handed tactics came back to haunt them as defender Brayan Beckeles was given his marching orders for two yellow cards in the space of 15 minutes.

First, Beckeles had lunged in on Welbeck before he caught Baines with a flailing arm in a reckless high challenge.

That gave England a one-man advantage which they looked to exploit, but Sturridge headed over from six yards when unmarked after being picked out by Glen Johnson’s expert cross.

There was still time for Celtic goalkeeper Fraser Forster to come on for only his second England cap, and in his brief action, he had to deal with a long-range shot from club-mate Izaguirre.

It wasn’t the ideal evening, but this will be quickly forgotten if England get the right result against Italy in Manaus in six days’ time.

England (4-2-3-1): Hart (Forster 75); Johnson, Cahill, Jagielka, Baines; Gerrard (Barkley 46), Henderson (Lampard 83); Lallana, Rooney (Wilshere 46), Welbeck (Lambert 79); Sturidge. Unused substitutes Foster (Gk), Smalling, Jones, Shaw, Milner.

Honduras (4-4-2): Valladares; Beckeles, Bernardez, Figueroa, Izaguirre; M. Chavez (Najar 61), Garrido (Claros 46), W. Palacios, Espinoza (J.C. Garcia 87); Bengtson (J. Palacios 75), Costly (Delgado 69). Unused substitutes Escober (Gk), Lopez (Gk), Montes, M. Martinez, R. Martinez, O. Chavez, O. Garcia.

Referee: R. Salazar (USA)