England 3-0 Czechia: Report by Layth Yousif at Wembley Stadium
Harry Kane grabbed his 90th and 91st international goals on his record equalling 125th appearance on a night to remember for the England skipper.
In front of 78,864 fans at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday evening, the evergreen 33-year-old ensured England made it three wins from four Nations League games during a largely successful camp. One that surely that removed any lingering doubts over Thomas Tuchel’s continued reign, following the desperately disappointing World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina in Atlanta this summer.
The victory also ensured – along with Croatia losing to Spain – England definitely have a Nations League quarter-final date next March, which should be against top quality opposition such as France or Germany.
Kane’s brace came after an own goal from former West Ham defender Vladimir Coufal OG put the home side ahead after 27 minutes
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Tuchel made four changes from the rout in Croatia, with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Eberechi Eze and Morgan Rogers starting, with Ezri Konsa, Alex Scott, Anthony Gordon and Bukayo Saka dropping out.
It was noticeable that Tuchel opted for Jarell Quansah to move across to centre-half, as Alexander-Arnold drafted in at right-back, after performing admirably in that position when England won 2-0 quite comfortably in Prague this time last week, prior to dropping the Real Madrid defender for the 7-0 thrashing of Slave Bilic’s sorry Croatian side in Rjeika on Saturday.
It was Alexander-Arnold who went close with an early free-kick from outside the box that Newcastle keeper Lukas Hornicek did well to turn around the post for a corner that came to nothing.
The visitors started with former West Ham defender Coufal, with Rangers striker Ryan Naderi up front. Two minutes later Alex Kral drilled a low effort that flew narrowly past a nervy looking Jordan Pickford in a lively start.
On 23 minutes Bellingham fizzed an inch perfect crossfield ball to Rogers, whose deft touch lands just the wrong side of the post.
The pressure was to tell eventually, when former West Ham man Coufal inadvertently slammed Kane’s hopeful cross into the net past keeper Hornicek for an emphatic own goal on 27 minutes.
Thirteen minutes later the crowd got what they came for when Kane doubled the lead after the Bayern Munich striker’s emphatic finish from Rogers cross.
The restart saw a superb piece of skill from Lewis-Skelly to prompt a driving move that culminated in Kane clipping the bar with a fierce effort from Alexander-Arnold’s ball inside. Moments later Rogers fed Bellignham whose impudent backheel was blocked.
Shortly afterwards Kane made it 3-0 with his 57th minute header beating Hornicek at the near post.
With the match effectively won by the hour mark, Tuchel made a raft of substitutions, while still finding time to act as the side’s unofficial water carrier, lugging a crate of bottles for captain Kane to have a quick drink, no doubt while refusing any offers of a rest, in his hunger for a hattrick on such an auspicious occasion.
As the clock ticked down, substitute Roman Macek unleashed a powerful long-range effort that flew just past Pickford’s right-hand post, with the England keeper floundering.
However, Kane had to settle for two goals on his record-equalling appearance – and a hug from boss Thomas Tuchel after the England head coach substituted the Bayern Munich striker on 81 minutes.
Next up is Croatia at Wembley in November, when surely Kane will break the country’s appearance record. How many more goals he scores is another matter.
