England 3-0 Wales
Last night’s International Friendly between England and Wales bared witness to new local heroes for the Three Lions.
Everton’s red-hot forward in Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Wolverhampton Wanderers centre-back Conor Coady, and Southampton star and once Tottenham target Danny Ings have made the most of their opportunities after being called upon by punching in one goal each for the 3-0 win.
The Three Lions bucked a relatively slow start as the Dragons were quicker off the bounce.
However, Southgate’s men slowly took control of the match through precise passing and formidable defence. And from there, they never looked back.
This win gave England some much needed momentum ahead of the upcoming UEFA Nations League weekend. But more importantly, given the way his “fringe” players performed, England gaffer Gareth Southgate made be on to something here.
On the other side, Wales manager Ryan Giggs shouldn’t feel too bad for themselves since they were missing some key players. But he knows that there’s work needed to be done in order to prepare ahead for this weekend.
Today, allow SBOTOP to recap and examine how England did it with last night’s set of International Friendly 2020 highlights.
Highlights of the game
Despite both clubs missing some of their key players, England were still favoured to win in the International Friendly 2020 odds simply because they had a much deeper roster.
England were missing their youngsters in Tammy Abraham, Ben Chilwell, and Jadon Sancho due to disciplinary reasons, while Wales missed the services of Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsay due to fitness concerns.
Several players made their great first starts for the Three Lions. Along with Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Conor Coady, and Danny Ings, Aston Villa midfielder Jack Grealish arguably should be named as the Man of the Match.
It has been five years since he pledged allegiance to England, and many were doubtful at first on how he’d fit in to a system built on pace with Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford on the team.
However, he would prove doubters wrong as he controlled the game with his playmaking and tempo. Even Gareth Southgate probably didn’t see this coming from him.
After Wales had their chances early, Grealish made sure that England capitalised on theirs.
In the 26th minute, he would use his deft touch to flick the ball over a flying Dominic Calvert-Lewin for the first goal of the match.
Fast forward to the 53rd minute, Jack Grealish would draw the foul that led to England’s second goal of the match. Kieran Trippier would go on to deliver an on-target set piece for Conor Coady to kick the ball to the back of the net.
Danny Ings, who was also making his first start, showed off his brilliance in the 63rd minute when he executed a bicycle kick after Kalvin Phillips floated the ball into the middle via a corner kick.
Jack Grealish almost added a goal of his own few minutes later, but his low shot was a whisker away from going into the net.
Bukayo Saka tried punching in one during the late game, but it was parried away by Wales goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey.
England would control the game and Wales simply didn’t stand a chance.
Key statistics
This was England’s sixth consecutive win over Wales. Wales suffered their worst defeat against England since May 1973, which was also on a 3-0 tally.
England may have had only eight total shots, but six of them were on target. Meanwhile, Wales had seven with only two on target.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin became the 188th player to score on his England debut and he was the first Everton player to achieve the feat since Fred Pickering in 1964. He has scored his 10th goal already in the last seven fixtures for club and country.
Conor Coady was the first Wolves defender to have scored a goal since April 2018.
This marks the first time since 1933 that England gave at least four players their national team debuts. At the same time, this marks the first time since 1963 where three England players scored their first national team goals all in the same game.
Kieran Trippier became the first outfield player since David Beckham in 2008 to captain for England.
What’s next?
England’s next match is definitely a cracker as they will face Belgium on Monday at the UEFA Nations League. After that, they will face Denmark before their players go on separate ways.
Wales, on the other hand, will take a trip to Ireland and Bulgaria in their next two UEFA Nations League fixtures.
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