"STER FLY" - Daily Star

Czech Republic Team

England Team

    Match Report by Mike Payne

After the disappointment of a lacklustre performance against the Scots, the good news was that, after the results the previous evening, England had already qualified for the knockout stage of the competition by the time the Czechs came calling at Wembley. All England fans were looking for just a little bit more from their team in this, their final group match.

They started brilliantly. A fine through ball by Luke Shaw sent Raheem Sterling clear. He cleverly lobbed the advancing goalkeeper, only to see the ball strike the outside of the far post, to then be cleared. That was the third game running that England had struck a post in the early minutes. A lively start continued when Jack Grealish burst forward with his first touch, a great sign, but the Czechs too, attacked when possible. The England defenders soon got to grips with their task though and it was good to see Harry Maguire back playing again.

The Czechs were looking to get in behind the England defence, however, it was mostly the England players that were pushing forward. A free-kick by Shaw was met by John Stones, who tried to head it back across goal, but only succeeded in heading wide. Then a long ball forward in the 11th minute was cleared to Harry Kane just outside the box, and he tried a rather ambitious volley. Sadly the ball flew over the top of the goal, but it was good to see signs of the old Harry back again. A minute later though, and the Three Lions were ahead.

Bukayo Saka, making an impressive first appearance in the tournament, made a fine run forward and eventually centred from the right deep to the other side. The Czechs failed to clear, the ball was picked up by Kane, who fed it to Grealish on the left. He jinked his way to the bye-line and centred perfectly to the far post where Sterling was once again on the end of it to head home emphatically. A smashing goal, and jubilation for players and fans alike.

The Czechs tried to hit back quickly, but a dangerous looking attack was ended by an offside flag. Meanwhile, Saka was lucky to win a corner from a poorly taken free-kick, and the Arsenal player was then blatantly tripped on the edge of the box, but the referee gave nothing. All through this tournament so far, some of the players reactions when fouled have become rather laughable. All teams are guilty of it, as they scream blue murder each time they go down. Who would be a referee, eh? Vladamir Darida went down like he had been shot with a 12 bore, instead of being gently tripped by Shaw. Once he got his free-kick he was fine though, thankfully. (Sorry, if that sounded a little sarcastic, but it gets my goat! And before you say anything, England players are doing it now too!)

Back to the match, and a clever piece of defending by Kyle Walker, shepherds the ball back to Jordan Pickford, and then Kane came, oh so close, to a second England goal. A wonderful pass on 25 minutes from Maguire to the skipper, saw Kane check back onto his right foot, only to see his shot very well saved by Tomas Vaclik, the Czech goalkeeper. Over the next ten minutes the Czechs enjoyed plenty of possession, and in the 27th minute they had their best effort on goal. Tomas Holes fired in a great shot destined for the net, only for Pickford to fly across goal to his right and turn the ball around a post, making a fine save. Other than that, the Czechs found it hard to break down the home defence. Stones and Maguire looked very solid, and they were well backed up by Pickford, looking calm and assured, and the two full-backs.

Just after the half-hour mark Saka won another corner for England, but once again the delivery was poor, something the management must get to grips with. It has usually been a good source of danger for us in times gone by. Meanwhile, on 35 minutes, the Czechs create their best chance so far as a cross comes in from the left and West Ham’s Tomas Soucek hits his shot inches wide. Two minutes later and Shaw goes close as he bursts down the left to fire a shot at the near post. Vaclik is down smartly to turn the shot round the post for a corner. As the half drew to a close, a long ball by Pickford was brilliantly brought down by Grealish, and with Declan Rice and Saka helping, the latter’s cross was cleared. So, half-time, and England holding the lead comfortably.

The second-half began with Jordan Henderson coming on for Rice, and lots of cat and mouse play by both teams. In fact, over the next 25 minutes, not a great deal happened. There were some attacks that came to nothing, and then the substitutions began to break up what little flowing play there was. Gareth Southgate brought on Marcus Rashford and Jude Bellingham, surprisingly for Sterling and Grealish, which disappointed many of the fans.

Kane continued to play well, and his link play and hold-up play was very good and he was still working hard, searching for that elusive goal. Tyrone Mings came on for the excellent Stones, and on 83 minutes England had their only scare of the half. For once Pickford’s clearance was miscued, and it ended with one of the Czech substitutes Tomas Pekhart, shooting just wide after receiving a pass from Soucek. Jadon Sancho then replaced the impressive Saka and the Czechs, too, made more changes.

The one last chance fell to England with four minutes to go. The ball came into the box, the Czechs failed to clear properly and Bellingham stabbed the ball forward to Henderson, who deflected the ball past the goalkeeper. Henderson really thought that he had finally broken his goalscoring drought for England, but alas, he was offside. A final shot blazed over from a Czech forward and that was that.

The second-half had been a little disappointing although it must be said that England were in almost complete control. All the players had put in a good shift and it was a big improvement on the Scotland performance. The players that came in did well and Southgate will have plenty of headaches in his team selection for, what will be a really tough game, in the knockout stage. The good news is that Maguire and Henderson both came through with game-time under their belts, and Grealish showed just why the fans have been desperate for him to play a full part.

One last question, why are so many of the Czech players called Tomas? Must be very confusing in team talks.
    

Source Notes