Match Summary

England Team

United States Team

A strange game, this one. The pre-match talk was all about Wayne Rooney, or course it was, as the England legend was given a farewell appearance international that both he and the fans could savour. Fair enough, but it was also a much changed side that Gareth Southgate put out after last month’s fine win in Spain. Three new caps, with Lewis Dunk, Callum Wilson and, after the break, Alex McCarthy in goal, making their debuts. Ironically though, Rooney began the match on the bench.

England started brightly and after five minutes the visiting goalkeeper Brad Guzan tipped a Deli Alli header on to the bar, although the referee signalled that Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cross had gone out before Alli’s header.  When the action swung to the other end Dunk was on hand to head a dangerous cross away and then, two minutes later, Wilson almost celebrated a debut goal, only just failing to reach a Jesse Lingard cross.  It was all action in these early stages, with the young USA side very much showing the transitional state that they were in.  They were all over the place at times as England pushed forward relentlessly.  Wilson should have had a penalty when he went down under a challenge from Guzan, but the referee waived away the penalty claims.

Jadon Sancho, the young England talent, making his first start, showed his twinkle toes on occasions, and this lad has the makings of a real star. At just 18 years of age he has the world at his feet. He set Harry Winks up with one effort but the Tottenham man fluffed his shot.

The majority of the play was very much England’s but on 24 minutes they nearly gave away a silly goal. A bad mistake by Michael Keane, who otherwise had a solid game, was so nearly punished as Christian Pulisic latched on to the ball but with a free shot he could only hit the advancing Jordan Pickford, who saved with his body, and the ball was scrambled clear.

That was a scare for England, but just a minute later a magnificent goal emphasised England’s dominance. Alli, out on the left, touched the ball to one side to Lingard and the Manchester United striker curled a fantastic shot into the far top corner, giving Guzan no chance. It was a fabulous goal and reminiscent of the one he scored in the World Cup back in the summer. Barely two minutes later and it was 2-0. Alli was again involved as he found Sancho in the inside-right position. The youngster cleverly waited for the overlapping Alexander-Arnold before laying the ball into his path. The full-back hit a tremendous first-time shot into the far corner. It was Alexander-Arnold’s first goal for his country and a memorable one too.

The USA were stunned by those two goals in two minutes but they tried to hit back when skipper William Trapp’s challenge on Fabian Delph won the ball and his pass to Julian Green resulted in a good shot which Pickford did well to block with both fists.

With England seemingly easing off a little after their two goals it opened the way for the States to apply some pressure before half-time. Pulisic fired a shot wide after good play by Tim Weah, and the England defenders had to block a couple of other efforts.

After the break Alex McCarthy came on for Pickford, but there was no sign of Rooney, much to the crowd’s puzzlement. Both sides started the half on the front foot and a forceful run by the ever-willing Pulisic saw another shot blocked by the home defence. Ben Chilwell then put in a good run down the left but Lingard’s shot hit a defender before being cleared. The USA were having more of the play at this stage but the England defenders were shutting their forwards down well and McCarthy had little to do.

A raft of substitutions followed and the biggest cheer of the night came when the crowd spotted Rooney in his familiar number ten shirt ready to come on. He joined the action with Eric Dier and Jordan Henderson, whilst Alli, Chilwell and Lingard went off. The US team also made changes and as so often happens all these substitutions disrupted the flow of the game.

On 66 minutes Bobby Wood saw another shot charged down and England were struggling to recapture the earlier sparkle they had. A corner was given away and Wood really should have pulled a goal back from the cross. His header flew over though and England escaped. Reuben Loftus-Cheek then came on for Winks and over the next few minutes England’s play improved. Rooney had his first shot of the night, and then Loftus-Cheek set up Alexander-Arnold with a fine pass, but the resultant cross from the latter was put wide by Wilson.

Wilson had come close a couple of times with his enthusiastic centre-forward play, and on 76 minutes he scored the goal he deserved. Delph, now at left-back, found himself down the left-wing and his cross was perfectly met by the striker as Wilson volleyed the ball past Guzan. The Bournemouth player was overjoyed to score, and it was just as well that he did because in the next instance he was replaced by Marcus Rashford.

England began this match well, and they were ending it well too, with several dangerous attacks coming in the final ten minutes. Rooney showed his passing skills, and he nearly set up Loftus-Cheek with one fine pass over the top of the visiting defence. Rooney also played Rashford in, but the striker was crowded out. All the time that Rooney was on the field, and he played very well it has to be said, the crowd were willing him to score. Right at the death it seemed the perfect script had been written. A lovely move by England ended with Rooney having a magical chance. Alas, the USA goalkeeper ruined the moment by diving to his right to pull off a smart save. What a disappointment! There was still time for Rooney to have one more chance, but he just failed to reach Sancho’s cross. What a story that would have made, ‘Veteran Rooney scores from Wonderkid’s cross’, you could see the headlines couldn’t you.

In all seriousness this was a comfortable win by England and one or two of the players did their chances of future appearances no harm whatsoever. Sadly, we won’t see Rooney playing for England again, unless the FA decide to have a reunion match for him when he is 50! Thanks for all the great memories Wazza, and good luck for the future.

Meanwhile we now have unfinished business with Croatia!
     

Source Notes