James and and Eze do London proud as England beat rugged Latvia 3-0 in World Cup qualifier
By Paul Lagan at Wembley Stadium
England 3 v Latvia 0
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Chelsea skipper Reece James produced a world-class free-kick to set England on their way to a 3-0 win over rugged but limited Latvia in a World Cup qualifier at Wembley tonight.
Playing at his regular right-back slot, and starting for the Three Lions, James, did what the other 10 players tried to do but failed, and that was to put the ball in the back of the net. And what a beauty it was too – a 25 yard, right-footed up and curler that rooted goalkeeper Krisjanis Zviedris to the spot.
Until then England had dominated play, huffed and puffed and showed some genuine top-class play, but the visitors, held firm, that is until James took matters into his own hands on 38 minutes.
The floodgates were expected to open at that point - and had they, no one would have been surprised, but the Latvian's held form to their game plan, and a 3-0 scoreline will be satisfactory to both sides.
England have two wins out of two under head coach Thomas Tuchel's tutelage.
As expected the ball was firmly in the Latvian half for the opening exchanges as England went in search of the early goal.
But the opposition, held firm and in face even got a corner after 11 minutes.
Nothing came of it, but it did suggest that the longer that game went on without an England goal, the more confident and perhaps attacking the Latvians may become.
Latvia sent their journalists in the press box into multiple spasms of anticipation on 19 minutes when a long ball fed Vladislavs Gutkovskis who beat Mark Guehi, Jordan Pickford was stranded as the ball went past him, but the striker could not direct the ball in to an empty net – he had to settle for side-netting.
Two minutes later and Marcus Rashford thought he had won a penalty but referee Orel Tsvika Grinfeeld waved the appeal away.
From a corner kick somehow Krisjanis Zviedris tipped over a thumper off a close range left-footer from Ezri Konza as the Three Lions laid siege to the Latvian goal.
VAR intervened when Jarrod Bowen appeared to be bundled over by Zviedris on 26 minutes.
But they decided to go with the referee's action which was to ignore the plea.
Marcus Rashford's performance on the left was a major upgrade to that of Friday's against Albania, while on thee other flank, West Ham's Jarrod Bowen was equally effective in getting down the right flank.
While England struggle to hit the net from inside the penalty area, it was left to Chelsea skipper Reece James to show them how to do with from outside.
On 38 minutes he produced the perfect free-kick from 25 yards out, that went high around the wall and smashed into the left hand corner of Zviedris's goal.
James' quietly celebrated without any outside sense of jubilation That was left to his team mates who jumped on him in delight.
A Marc Guehi slip allowed Alvis Jaunzems a chance to shoot but Pickford snaffled the effort.
There were no changes by either side at half-time.
However on the field Rashford and Bowen flipped wing positions with little impact, certainly in the opening exchanges.
Soon it was time for a change and on came Eberechi Eze for Bowen on 61 minutes.
A nice piece of interplay on 63 minutes saw Harry Kane try his luck from the edge of the Latvia area, but his scooping left-footer went wide.
Phil Foden then entered the fray on 67 minutes, off went Jude Bellingham.
Within seconds, Kane had notched up number two with a simple far post left-footed tap-in.
Excellent work on the right by Rashford, and Declan Rice saw the Arsenal man whip the ball across the six-yard line on the right and the Bayern Munich hitman was on the spot to finish it off.
With 14 minutes left on the clock it was the Crystal Palace wide man Eze' moment to shine as he scored his first England goal following a slight deflection to make it 3-0.
It was almost a case of player queuing up to try to score as England went in search of more goals, but the Latvian's held firm-ish.
Teams: England: Pickford, James, Rice, Konsa, Guehi, Kane, Bellingham, Rashford, Rogers, Bowen, Lewis-Skelly
Subs: Henderson, Trafford, Walker, Foden, Henderson, Burn, Colwill, Eze, Jones, Gibbs-White, Solanke, Quansah
Latvia: Zviedris, Balodis, Cernomordijs, Gutkovskis, Ikaunieks, Savalnieks, Jurkovskis, Ciganiks, Zelenkovs, Jaunzems, Saveljevs
Subs: Ozols, Matrevics, Jagodinskis, Sliede, Isajevs, Daskevics, Vapne, Sits, Krollis, Melniks, Tonisevs
Referee: Orel Tsvika Grinfeeld (ISR)
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