England got back to winning ways with a 2-0 victory over the Czech Republic on Tuesday, September 29.
After the disappointing result against Spain, England needed a response. They also needed three points.
The match was not the most exciting for long periods. However, England did what they needed to do.
A first-half red card for the Czech Republic also changed the way the game developed.
Here, Sports News Blitz’s Elliot Desage looks at five talking points from England’s win.
Gordon continues to impress
Anthony Gordon stood out for England. He looked confident on the ball and constantly tried to move forward.
The winger caused problems for the Czech defence with his pace and movement.
He got his reward after half-time when he headed in Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cross.
Trent delivered an excellent ball into the box. Gordon still needed to find the right position and attack the cross.
Gordon has enjoyed good form for England recently. This performance gave another example of what he can offer.
His pace and energy make him difficult for defenders to handle. He can also create problems when England attack quickly.
Trent shows what he can do
Trent Alexander-Arnold was another player who had a good game for England. He was given the chance to start and looked keen to get involved, especially when England were going forward.
His best moment came when he crossed the ball for Gordon to score England’s first goal. The delivery was really accurate and gave Gordon a great chance to attack the ball.
There have been questions about Trent’s role in the England team, but this performance showed why he can be useful. His passing and crossing ability gives England another option when trying to break teams down.
The red card changed the match
One of the biggest moments of the game was Pavel Sulc being sent off in the first half.
Before that happened, England were not really creating many clear chances and the Czech Republic were doing a good job of keeping them quiet.
Going down to 10 men made things much harder for the Czech Republic. England were able to have more possession and push more players forward without worrying as much about being hit on the counter-attack.
It probably played a big part in England eventually getting the win.
The Czech Republic still defended well at times, but having one less player made it very difficult for them to keep England out for the whole game.
Kane finds the net again
Harry Kane got England’s second goal and once again showed why he is so important to the team. He was in the right place inside the box and reacted quickly to get the ball into the net.
It was not the most exciting goal you will ever see, but Kane might not really care how they go in. His job is to score goals, and he managed to do that yet again.
Even when Kane is not having a massive influence on the game, he always looks like he could score. Having someone like him up front gives England confidence that they can take advantage when a chance comes along.
A much-needed win for England
After losing to Spain, getting three points against the Czech Republic was really important for England. The performance was not perfect, but the result is probably the main thing that matters.
There were still times when England looked a little slow going forward and struggled to create chances. They will need to improve that if they want to perform better against stronger opposition.
Overall, though, England can take plenty of positives from the game. They scored two goals, kept a clean sheet and got the win they needed.
Now, they will be hoping to build on this result in their next match against Croatia.
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