England ended the first international break in the time of Thomas Tuchel with a 3-0 victory safe on Latvia on Monday.
Reece James Free Free Shot opened the score in the first half, before Harry Kane and Ebereche Eze found the back of the network after the pause to get a second consecutive victory to start the candidacy of the Three Lions to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
As the game was deployed
The game started predictably as Latvia sat on a low block, challenging England to find a path through the multitude of bodies. Jude Bellingham saw a blocked effort and Jarrod Bowen paid attention.
At the other end, Latvia was almost a crash opener. A combination between Jordan Pickford and Marc Guehi gave Vladislavs Gutkovskis a view of an empty net at an adjusted angle, but the Latvian striker could not direct his efforts on the goal.
An impressive savings by Krisjanis Zviedris prevented Ezri Konsa Marqués 20 minutes. Jude Bellingham’s head was diverted to the danger zone, and the TAP flexed some breathtaking reflexes to tilt Konsa’s track in the bar.
England refused a penalty to the half -hour mark after Zviedris Xoqués with Jarrod Bowen, but there was simply no sensational free shot of James in the 38th minute. Chelsea’s captain doubled a simply sublime effort in the upper corner to put on England at halftime.
Kane doubled 60 minutes with England’s first actual opportunity in the second half, but could hardly be lost shortly after when the drop of Declan Rice found it without scoring on the rear post for a simple touch-in.
The Substitute Eze added a third with 15 minutes to travel, driving in turn before cutting inside and sending a diverted effort beyond the helpless Zviedris.
Morgan Rogers struck the gloves of the Latvian goalkeeper when the clock scored, but the three lions were forced to settle for three goals and a routine victory.
On the rare occasions when they did not have the ball, England lined up in the same 4-2-3-1 formation as we saw against Albania. However, we saw something new here, as the three lions adopted a 3-2-4-1 configuration in attacking.
Myles Lewis-Skelly headed from the left to stand next to Declan Rice in the midfield, allowing Jude Bellingham to go ahead and hit Morgan Rogers in attacking the midfield. It Real Madrid The future was usually influential and retained its central role in this new system.
It was refreshing that Tuchel tried something new against one side, which, with all the respect, always went thoroughly and tried to crush a ugly draw. A common critique in Gareth Southgate’s time was the use of too many defensive players in games like this, but clearly the new boss does things differently.
After the Albania match, Tuchel Did not try to hide his disappointment Towards the performances of Marcus Rashford and Phil Foden, who argued that he did not offer enough movement in broad areas.
Foden dropped on the bench here, but Rashford was allowed to keep his place and give him the opportunity to answer. In the first half, Aston Villa Persande was involved in almost every dangerous behind Latvian defense, although the final product when he arrived often left much to be desired, as he saw Cross after crossing the cross.
Rashford moved to the right wing after the break and was the same. It was noteworthy that Eze, a few minutes after entering the game on the left side, found himself celebrating a goal after a more direct career: the kind of thing Tuchel was crying.
England finished the game after trying a crunchy 41 crosses for 90 minutes. There is nothing necessarily wrong with this approach, but it requires precision of those who pump the ball in the box.
Only 11 of these crosses ended up finding a head of England, and Rashford completed only three of its 11 attempts as a team attack, while it was always controlled, it often seemed to be more hopeful than anything else.
Things were a bit more direct after the time mark, and this is where the second and third goals from England came, as Rice and Ebechi Eze declined the game to the defense of Latvia, which is what Tuchel wanted of Rashford and Foden against Albania.
For the first time since September 2022, Reece James started a game in England. That was just the Chelsea The third international appearance of the captain in almost three years, with injuries that had devastated his last seasons.
To mark his return, James channeled his interior David Beckham to trigger a really exceptional free kick, and scored his first goal for England in the process.
During his time shared at Chelsea, James was a dirty re-robe, but played a more disciplined role here as a center on the right in a three defensive. Not surprisingly, he was not tested much, but he certainly did what he could to raise his claim for a permanent place.
Check out the classifications of players from England 3-0 from Latvia here.
