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Aston Villa beat Denmark today in a surprise twist, with Darren Bent and Ashley Young providing the goals in a 2-1 defeat. It seems that England were scheduled to play Denmark today, but instead the Villa took over, with Bent, Young, and Stewart Downing all on the pitch for the last twenty minutes, along with former Villans James Milner and Gareth Barry.
Proving that English players just sort of fade away when purchased by Manchester City, Barry was there simply to take the armband for the last ten minutes, whereas Milner provided a reverse pass to Bent, and that was about it. Instead it was Young and Bent that had the commentators raising their voices.
Young came on for the second half and immediately made a menace of himself. He put through a superb cross for Bent to head in, although Denmark keeper Thomas Sorensen saved that one, as well as Young's own header shortly after. Young gave Villa, er, England, the lead in the 68th minute with a cool finish off a pass by Glen Johnson.
Jokes aside, this was England, not the Villa, but at the same time, it was easy to see the sparks of brilliance between Bent and Young. Fabio Capello played him behind Bent, just where he plays for Villa, and this game was an excellent example of the vision that Gerard Houllier has for Young as the withdrawn striker. With Ash in the free role behind Bent, the two have the potential to link up very well together, as they did today. Should that start happening more and more at Aston Villa, things are going to get very exciting.