Wales 0 - England 3
Rashford 50' 68'
Foden 51'
England started the match relatively positively by firstly asserting control of the ball and then pressing the Welsh further and further back. Welsh attention was mainly directed at Harry Kane who has been somewhat quiet this tournament but with attention on him, this has opened up space for his teammates. By Kane drawing out the Welsh defence in the fourth minute of the game, Rice was given the ball and was able to chip over the top of the Welsh back four. Marcus Rashford was then left with a one on one situation with Danny Ward but the English striker was not able to lift the ball over the Welsh keeper.
England then pushed the ball closer and closer to the Welsh goal and tried to encamp at about 30 yards away from the Welsh by-line. As Wales became compact, England found that there wasn't even a way through the defence and it wasn't until the 37th minute that any kind of crack started to appear. After a passage of play in which England dinked the ball around the back four who were playing very very high up the pitch indeed, Phil Foden fired a shot from the edge of the penalty area from almost the corner of the area itself. It sprayed high but this appeared to make Wales shudder and close.
An outsider might look at this match and think it uninspiring but what we've seen is a Wales wide who looked at the experience of the United States and have applied and executed similar tactics. England wants to press towards the centre of the pitch but both the United States and now Wales, have been able to put bodies in the centre of the park and force England to drive to the sides of the park. This has forced England to go to the air and swing balls inwards but as with the United States, no chariot has swung low to carry England home.
It must be said that the Welsh Goalkeeper Danny Ward has made himself sufficiently big enough at the right times to completely frustrate any and all England attacks. Bellingham's attack in added time swung left and Kane's shot which he only really got because he happened to be on the end of it, was the right height but spewed the the right. Three minutes later Joe Allen took a shot to the top right of the goal, after he was allowed to drift into a hole and was unmarked.
The sides went into the half-time break scoreless; so Wales decided to replace Gareth Bale, which seems like a daft choice until you realise that he barely touched the ball and even then managed to complete exactly 0% of all passes.
England took the lead from a Marcus Rashford free kick very early in the first half after Trippier was brought down. The hit was really quite hard and flat with a lot of top-spin and I have no idea if Ward saw the ball at all. If you're going to set up a wall, then you need to cover the space and Wales obviously should have done better but they would have no idea what would come next.
Phil Foden doubled the advantage almost in seconds after the restart after a cross from Harry Kane and before the Welsh even woke up, Foden had a simple tap-in. In 29 seconds, all hopes of Wales escaping the group more or less evaporated. Foden had to make a lot of ground before he made that tap-in; which means that he must have had the awareness and understanding to know that Kane might or could pass the ball onwards. Even if Kane isn't scoring, he creates chances for others.
After that second goal went in, the Welsh Manager Rob Page made three substitutes because even he knew that scoring three goals against England at this point and hoping that Iran would win against the United States in the other group match, would be a hope forever unfulfilled. At this point, thoughts have to turn about bedding in new players and getting experience because the Welsh Euro 2024 and World Cup 2026 campaigns effectively begin now.
Wales tried to regroup and play the ball forwards but in doing so, brought about even more of their undoing. Calvin Phillips chipped the ball over the top of the back four, to find Marcus Rashford who again hit the ball with so much power that it clipped Danny Ward's heel. This is actually only the 2nd start that Marcus Rashford has had, in 15 appearances for England; so I think that on a night like this, he must have thought that he needed to take the opportunity to write his name all over the score sheet.
Wales's ability to press into the opposition half exists but like previous matches in the group, it just leaves them awfully exposed at the back. As England surged forward, the Welsh ability to backpedal was simply non-existent.
England clearly weren't done with inflicting damage to the score line and after yet another Welsh attempt to push the ball out of their half, Trent Alexander-Arnold stole the ball away and found Callum Wilson who suddenly found himself in an oasis of space. Wilson thought he'd have a drive forward and brough Bellingham with him and after tapping the ball forward through for Phil Foden to tap in yet another, Foden struck the ball with outside of his boot and managed to put so much spin on it, that it spun outwards beyond the right-hand post. Having watched him play at Newcastle United, you can tell that Wilson has a very direct mindset; which is useful in an England side which really does need to push forward because when it does, it is successful.
England appeared to relax after the third goal went and justifiably so. 1-0 is never enough. 2-0 is routine performance. 3-0 is a confident result and having topped the group and never going behind at any point, the knockout phase of the campaign has been set up nicely. England will play Senegal in the next round; who can be deadly on occasion. Tonight though, after playing a first half of satisfactory stodge, England had and found more to give and did it well.
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