Battle of the beanpoles

BADEN-BADEN: They might be giants, but Trinidad and Tobago defender Dennis Lawrence is playing down the chances of a ‘Battle of the Beanpoles’ when he comes up against England’s Peter Crouch on Thursday.  With both men standing around 6ft 7in (two metres), Lawrence and Crouch’s duel in the Group B encounter will see two of the tallest players at the World Cup go head-to-head.

Yet Lawrence is adamant he will not be distracted by his tussle with Crouch, warning Trinidad that England have plenty of players capable of causing problems elsewhere.

“England have so many good players in their side, any one of them could prove to be a match-winner and pull off some magic, so it will not boil down to a battle between myself and Peter Crouch,” Lawrence said.

“I can understand why people are looking at the two of us because we are both big guys, but I have played against people almost as big as Crouch before and it’s not a problem for me.”

Crouch, meanwhile will go into his contest against the Wrexham centre-half knowing he has to be careful not to pick up another yellow card after being booked, unnecessarily he feels, against Paraguay in England’s 1-0 victory.

“It was very frustrating. I was getting pulled up for things that wouldn’t be a foul in the Premiership,” said Crouch.