England 3-0 Latvia (James 38′, Kane 68′, Eze 76′)
WEMBLEY STADIUM — Thomas Tuchel retrieved a small notepad from his coat pocket and, resting it on his thigh, bent over to scribble notes. At that stage, they were probably along the lines of: WHY DID I SIGN UP FOR THIS?
Tuchel had watched for almost half-an-hour, wearing a navy Nike baseball cap and matching windbreaker, chewing gum furiously on the edge of his technical area, his England players kept at bay all too comfortably by a country ranked 140th in the Fifa rankings.
They should – arguably – have been behind against Latvia: a mix-up between goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and defender Marc Guehi leaving Vladislavs Gutkovskis with an open goal but fractionally too tight an angle to score into it.
Having questioned, on the eve of his first game, the identity, clarity and rhythm of Gareth Southgate’s England, the lack of pattern repetitions of his predecessor’s play, the lack of freedom and expression of players, the lack of hunger, a bog-standard World Cup qualifying win against Albania was followed by a bog-standard game against Latvia, in which they really should have put on a show but became another predictable anxiety-filled Wembley struggle.
Yes, they won, but then England rarely ever lose these types of game.
Apart from when they almost conceded, it was all England: Tuchel’s players turning Latvia’s penalty box into a human pinball machine for 90 minutes. But it was so much promise, too many missed opportunities.
Marcus Rashford, intriguingly handed starts in both games by Tuchel, was lively and energetic. When his cross was chested into the air by Jarrod Bowen, Harry Kane attempted to spin and shoot, a complex technique a much younger Harry Kane might’ve pulled off, but the 31-year-old Harry Kane completely missed.
Morgan Rogers, the Aston Villa players given a chance at No 10, had a shot blocked and Bowen thrashed the rebound over, Tuchel exploding on the touchline, angry, arms flailing – a position he would adopt frequently.
Jude Bellingham headed a corner into Rashford’s back, then Ezri Konsa walloped the rebound on target only for Latvia goalkeeper Krisjanis Zviedris to somehow keep it out, producing one of the saves of his life.
But it was all remarkably familiar, this new England dawn, Tuchel’s 18 months to win the World Cup starting similarly to all the other England campaigns before.
As an idea of the sort of game it was becoming, seconds before the 38th-minute opening goal, the loudest cheer erupted when one of the increasing number of paper aeroplanes thrown from the stands reached the pitch.
That symbol of a tired, turgid England performance, when more entertainment is sought from seeing who can throw a paper aeroplane the furthest from their seat.
Then Reece James struck a beauty of a free-kick from all of 30 yards, the ball placed into the top corner as a close as a ball can be placed.
It's simply MAGNIFICENT!
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) March 24, 2025
A freekick of pure quality from Reece James#ITVFootball | #ThreeLions | #CFC pic.twitter.com/xgz9xca16u
It settled some nerves. Tuchel couldn’t hide a little smile.
But there was yet more evidence of frustrations spilling over in the second half. Declan Rice was told by the referee to cool it. Bellingham was already on a booking when he clattered into Raivis Jurkovskis and somehow didn’t receive a second yellow card. A lucky let off.
Although you still would’ve backed England with 10 men to continue out-passing Latvia for the remainder of the match.
There were, perhaps, faint flashes of what England can become under Tuchel’s tutelage. Certainly, he made substitutions that changed what was before them a below-average performance.
Eberechi Eze was sent for Bowen just after the hour and, six minutes later, Phil Foden, on the end of some blunt Tuchel criticism after the first game, came on for the red card tight-rope-walking Bellingham, and England scored a minute later.
England lead by two goals to nil!
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) March 24, 2025
Declan Rice puts it on a plate for Harry Kane#ITVFootball | #ThreeLions pic.twitter.com/tGHt3ziUkw
A result that should really have been sealed in the first half was, nonetheless, secured with an attractive move. Rashford, a cut-back and step-over, to Rogers, an intricate pass into the box for Rice, a hard low cross, converted by Kane.
Out with the old, in with the… same old.
The same old Mexican wave flowed around the stadium moments before Eze added a third via a heavy deflection, with 15 minutes remaining. The assist credited to Foden, the two substitutes combining.
Well before the final whistle, fans flocked from the stadium to beat the crowds.
from Football - The i Paper https://ift.tt/cpNFSVx
Post a Comment
EmoticonClick to see the code!
To insert emoticon you must added at least one space before the code.