International Friendly: England Debutants Shine at Wembley.
The friendly match between The Three Lions and Wales was England’s first game at Wembley in 11 months because of the coronavirus pandemic and the sterile behind closed doors atmosphere made it all look like the ‘Battle of Britain’.
But, in the absence of the rested inform Harry Kane, Gareth Southgate had nothing to worry about because Kieran Trippier who serving as the ninth different England captain under Southgate with the help of goals from in-form debutants, Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Southampton’s’ Danny Ings Southgate’s ‘experimental’ side comfortably beat Wales 3-0 on Thursday.
With Tammy Abraham, Ben Chilwell and Jadon Sancho missing following their Covid-19 breach and a squad packed with players who have already featured heavily for their clubs, Southgate turned to his understudies and they did not disappoint.
Calvert-Lewin opened the scoring at Wembley with his 10th goal this season after netting nine times in six games for Everton.
The 23-year-old’s first-half strike was followed by another goal as Wolves defender Conor Coady struck after the break.
On his first England start, Southampton striker Danny Ings got the third goal his first for his country with a fine overhead kick.
England will now focus on their Nations League matches against Belgium on Sunday and Denmark on Wednesday.
It wasn’t a good night for Wales who without Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey, were beaten for the first time in nine games dating back to June 2019.
They remain without a win over England since 1984, but boss Ryan Giggs had one eye on their Nations League games against the Republic of Ireland and Bulgaria.
Belgium 1 – 1 Cote d’Ivoire
Meanwhile, in the other friendly game of the night, Belgium were held to a 1-1 draw by Cote d’Ivoire as Michy Batshuayi’s 53-minute opener got cancelled out by Franck Kessie’s late penalty at King Baudouin Stadium.
