Key events
22 min: The thing is, this scoreline doesn’t flatter England at all. They’ve absolutely flown out of the blocks, and played some wonderful football. Wales don’t know which way to turn.
21 min: That’s a quite sensational finish from a sensational player. Craig Bellamy stands on the touchline open-mouthed, shell-shocked.
GOAL! England 3-0 Wales (Saka 20)
20 min: Gordon jinks into space down the left, skinning Williams with ease. He’s got the option to feed Spence on the overlap, but goes infield instead. Anderson and Rice combine to shuttle the ball across to Saka, who drops a shoulder to come in from the left, sails past Brooks, and whips a gloriously unstoppable shot into the top left!
18 min: Rogers spins away from Cullen with absurd ease. But Cullen comes snapping back, doing just enough to stop Rogers and England launching yet another attack.
16 min: Saka and Konsa combine down the right and the ball rolls infield to Rogers, who spins and threads a shot towards the bottom right. Easy for Darlow, as Rogers doesn’t really catch it. But Davies let that happen all too easily. Wales need to get on it, quicksmart, or this is going to get ugly for them. England are sashaying around like they own the place. Which, to be fair, they do.
14 min: Nothing comes of the corner. But Wales are all over the show. England are swarming them. They need to recover some poise and quick.
13 min: Wales just couldn’t clear their lines at all. A lot of grim faces in bucket hats. Rogers with a goal and an assist already. Aston Villa 2-0 Wales. And then Arsenal nearly chip in, Saka skittering down the inside-right channel and shooting from an inviting position just inside the box. Rodon slides in to stop what was looking like 3-0. But it’s another corner.
GOAL! England 2-0 Wales (Watkins 11)
Rice’s delivery isn’t that great, but Wales don’t clear properly. Saka takes up possession on the left. His cross finds Rogers on the right-hand corner of the six-yard box. Rogers pings across the face of the goal, and Watkins can’t miss from a couple of yards. Wales have been all over the shop at the back, but England have been as good as the visiting defence has been bad.
10 min: Rice isn’t to be discouraged, though, and curls a cross in from the left. Ampadu is forced to eyebrow out for another England corner, which this time will come in from the right, courtesy of Rice again.
9 min: Rice whips to the near post. Konsa competes for the ball, and wants a penalty because Dasilva has a handful of his shirt. You’ve seen them given, even though it’d be soft. But not this time. The ball pings back to Rice, who slices horribly out of play for a goal kick.
8 min: Williams’ first act once back up is to track Gordon, who is slaloming down the left. He stops the cross, but at the expense of a corner. Rice to send it in.
7 min: Williams is clipped in the midfield by Spence, and goes down, taking an opportunity for Wales, who are reeling from that blow, to clear their heads. He’s back up soon enough.
5 min: That was a crisp finish by Rogers, but what wonderful work by Guehi, who could have been forgiven for giving that situation up – Darlow certainly thought the ball was going out for a goal kick – and got maximum reward for his intensity, persistence and ingenuity. You’ll not see a better assist all season.
GOAL! England 1-0 Wales (Rogers 3)
The corner’s hit long by Rice from the left. Stones rises high to head wide right … but Guehi refuses to let the ball roll out of play, stopping it on the byline, then spinning and whipping back low into the mixer in one smooth move. Rogers meets the ball six yards out, and steers a shot across Darlow and into the bottom left. What a start!
2 min: England’s response is excellent, Saka and Rogers combining down the inside-right channel and cutting back for Gordon, who shoots low diagonally from the right-hand corner of the six-yard box. Darlow is forced to stick out a leg to stop the ball creeping into the bottom left, and the ball deflects out for a corner. From which …
1 min: Wales nick the ball off England within ten seconds of the restart, and Brooks drives hard at the England defence. He can’t burst through, but there’s a statement of intent from the visitors.
Both anthems were met with plenty of pantomime boos, too, of course. It’s a derby. But there’s love as well, with captains Declan Rice and Ben Davies embracing, while the coaches Thomas Tuchel and Craig Bellamy also enjoy a pleasant exchange. But let’s see how long that love-in lasts, as England get the ball rolling.
The teams emerge from the tunnel. Each player is accompanied by a fan living with dementia, the FA joining up with their official charity partner, the Alzheimer’s Society, to raise awareness of the condition. The point will be emphasised in the second half when the names on the back of the players’ shirts will be removed. As the anthems are played, it’s so heartwarming to see these 22 fans enjoying this emotionally uplifting experience. You can read more about this on the official England Football website.
Thomas Tuchel is asked by ITV if he’d have gone with the same starting line-up had Harry Kane et al been fit. “Maybe … [smiles enigmatically] … we will never know … there was a high chance for that … they deserved it … but we will never know … what excites me is my team … we had good days in camp … it will be a difficult match against a strong opponent … a well-coached team … there are questions … a different structure to the teams we have played against … that is exciting … the lights are on … the pitch looks perfect … a Wembley home match … a lot of reasons to be excited … the competition is on to be in the squad … then to be on the pitch and stay in the squad … the players know that … they live up to it … I hope we can make another step today.”
Wales striker Kieffer Moore talks to ITV. “The challenge is to really impose ourselves against this team … we have come a long way … no better opposition than England at Wembley … it’s about our intensity … how we impose ourselves … there’s no such thing as a friendly … amazing that we have 7,500 fans with us … we look forward to an exciting game.”
Declan Rice, England’s captain for the night, speaks to ITV. “It’s an honour in [Harry Kane’s] absence … you can never take these moments for granted … it’s a massive game … a big one … hopefully we can build on what we did last camp … when you play England-Wales it’s always a fiery fixture … the history between us … got to keep pushing … energy … enthusiasm … keep playing with freedom … we need to win tonight and keep building momentum.”
A reminder of how England fared in their last match …
… and this was Wales’ last competitive fixture.
England make four changes to their starting XI from the 5-0 rout of Serbia last month. Harry Kane, Reece James, Tino Livramento and Noni Madueke are all injured, so in come Ollie Watkins, John Stones, Djed Spence (making his first start) and Bukayo Saka. Declan Rice takes temporary ownership of the captain’s armband. James Trafford, Jarrell Quansah and Nico O’Reilly are on the bench hoping to win their first cap at some point tonight.
Wales named an experimental side for the 0-1 defeat to Canada last month. Only Neco Williams, Ben Davies, Harry Wilson and David Brooks keep their shirts from that match. Craig Bellamy goes strong, with Ethan Ampadu, Joe Rodon, Kieffer Moore and Brennan Johnson all returning.
The teams
England: Pickford, Konsa, Stones, Guehi, Spence, Rice, Anderson, Saka, Rogers, Gordon, Watkins.
Subs: Dean Henderson, Lewis-Skelly, Jordan Henderson, Kane, Eze, Rashford, Burn, Gibbs-White, Loftus-Cheek, Bowen, Quansah, O’Reilly, Trafford.
Wales: Darlow, Williams, Ampadu, Rodon, Ben Davies, Dasilva, Brooks, Cullen, Wilson, Johnson, Moore.
Subs: King, Mepham, Koumas, Rubin Colwill, Cabango, Jordan James, Harris, Thomas, Isaak Davies, Sheehan, Broadhead, Kpakio, Lawlor, Joel Colwill, Adam Davies.
Referee: Urs Schnyder (Switzerland).
Preamble
Unfortunately for fans of the tîm pêl-droed cenedlaethol Cymru, the following article, published in this corner of the information superhighway nine years ago, is still completely relevant today.
Since Mark Hughes scored the winner for Wales against England in 1984, the two neighbours and rivals have met on the association-football pitch seven times. England have won all seven of those matches, to the cumulative tune of 14-1. The last three of those games, during those aforementioned last nine years, count for 8-1 of that score. So there’s a good reason England are hot favourites tonight, not least because they’re at home … and Wales haven’t won this particular fixture since 1977 – Leighton James slotting a penalty after being fouled by Peter Shilton – and then before that 1936, when participants at Molineux including Ted Drake, Cliff Bastin, Bryn Jones and Jimmy Murphy wore black armbands to mourn the recent death of King George V. England is not their happiest hunting ground.
But Having Said All That dept. Wales have only lost twice in 11 matches under Craig Bellamy. Only one of those losses was in a competitive fixture, and in that they came from three down against Belgium only to ship the point they surely deserved right at the end. Plus they’ve been good to watch, and Bellamy says he and his team are turning up this evening with a view to having a right go. So this could be fun. Kick-off is at 7.45pm UK time. It’s on!
