England ended the first international break of Thomas Tuchel-era with a self-confident 3-0 victory over Latvia on Monday.
REECE JAMES ‘GLOR -Reiche free kick opened the goal in the first half before Harry Kane and Ebereche Eze found the back of the network after the break to achieve a second win in a row to achieve the offer of the three lions for the qualification for the 2026 World Cup.
How the game unfolds
The game started in a predictable way when Latvia was sitting deep in a low block and England challenged a way through the amount of bodies. Jude Bellingham saw an effort blocked and Jarrod Bowen whipped far.
At the other end, Latvia almost received a shock opener. A confusion between Jordan Pickford and Marc Guehi gave Vladislavs Gutkovski a sight of an empty network at a narrow angle, but the Latvia striker could not steer his efforts at its destination.
A breathtaking rescue from Krisjanis Zviedris prevented Ezri Konsa from being distracted into the danger zone for 20 minutes in covering Jude Bellingham, and the stopper spanned a few breathtaking reflexes to tap Konsa’s thundering follow-up over the bar.
England was denied a penalty in half an hour after Zviedris came together with Jarrod Bowen, but in the 38th minute there was simply no sensational free kick from James. Chelsea’s captain simply strained in the top corner to bring England into the break.
Kane has announced 60 minutes with England’s first real chance of the second half, but he could hardly miss it when Declan Rice’s low cross had not marked him on the back post for a simple tap-in.
The replacement of EZE made a third with 15 minutes to drive to his full -back before he was cut inside and sent a derived effort beyond the helpless Zviedris.
Morgan Rogers stumbled the gloves of the Latvia goalkeeper when the clock started, but the three lions had to be satisfied with the three goals and a routine victory.
In the rare cases in which they did not have the ball, England stated in the same 4-2-3-1 formation we saw against Albania. However, we saw something new here when the three lions took a 3-2-4-1 setup during the attack.
Myles Lewis-Skelly stepped in from the left-back to sit next to Declan Rice in midfield, so that Jude Bellingham with Morgan Rogers in midfield and with Morgan Rogers could violate. The Real Madrid striker was usually influential and again retained its central role in this new system.
It was refreshing to see how Tuchel tried something new about a side that always sitting deeply with all respect and tried to scream an ugly draw. A frequent criticism of the era of Gareth Southgate was the use of too many defensive players in such games, but the new boss clearly makes things different.
After the Albania game, Tuchel made no attempts to hide his disappointment with the performances of Marcus Rashford and Phil Foden, of which he argued that they did not offer enough exercise in broad areas.
Foden was dropped onto the bench here, but Rashford was allowed to keep its place and gave the opportunity to answer. In the first half, the Aston Villa lender was involved in almost every dangerous run behind the Latvia defense, even though the end product, when it arrived there, often left a lot to be desired when he saw Cross after Cross.
Rashford went to the right wing after the break and it was much the same. It was noteworthy that Eze celebrated a goal after a more direct run just a few minutes after entering the game on the left – something like that screamed after the Tuchel.
England ended the game after trying a whopping 41 crosses in the 90 minutes. Nothing is absolutely wrong with this approach, but it requires accuracy from those who pump the ball into the box.
Only 11 of these crosses found an English head when Rashford only completed three of his 11 attempted attacks by the team while he always has control, often more hopeful than anything.
After the hour, things became a little more direct and there came the second and third goals of England when Declan Rice and Eberechi Eze brought the game to the Latvia defense, which Tuchel von Rashford and Foden wanted against Albania.
For the first time since September 2022, Reece James started an English game. This was only the third international appearance of the Chelsea captain for almost three years, with injuries devastating his past seasons.
To mark his return, James channeled his inner David Beckham to unleash a really extraordinary curvature kick, scoring his first goal for England.
During her time together in Chelsea, James was a decline in the back, but he was commissioned here with a more disciplined role as a right -sided central defensive in defensive three. It was not surprising that he was not tested much, but he certainly did what he could do to raise his claim to a constant starting place.
Take a look at the player reviews of England 3-0.