England have been criticised for a lack of attacking prowess since Thomas Tuchel took over, but after thrashing Serbia 5-0 in their last outing, there were hopes that they’d turned a corner.
Their start to this game certainly suggested as much, as the Three Lions flew out of the traps and opened the scoring inside five minutes when Marc Guehi kept the ball alive from a corner and teed up Morgan Rogers to guide an effort into the far corner - England’s fastest goal at Wembley since Luke Shaw’s strike in the Euro 2020 final.
Another corner yielded England’s second just eight minutes later, as Declan Rice’s recycled delivery was kept alive at the far post by Rogers, who guided back across goal for his Villa teammate Ollie Watkins to tap home from no more than a yard out.
Wales were struggling to get out of their own half for most of the first period, and their defensive mindset was punished once more before the clock had even hit 20 minutes.
It was Bukayo Saka getting in on the act this time, cutting in off the right in trademark fashion before curling a sumptuous effort into the top corner beyond a desperate Karl Darlow dive.
Tuchel’s men ought to have gone into the break 4-0 up when Elliot Anderson afforded Watkins another tap in from inside the six yard box, but the Villa man incredibly fluffed his lines before nastily colliding with the post to add insult to injury.
Craig Bellamy’s side couldn’t get to grips with England from set-pieces, and yet another corner almost yielded the home Three Lions’ fourth goal.
An inventive short corner routine found Rogers unmarked in the area, but a brace for the evening evaded him when his drilled effort crashed back off the crossbar.
Both teams making rafts of changes disrupted the rhythm of the second half, but Wales did look much more promising after half-time and twice came close to reducing the arrears when David Brooks and Neco Williams both forced smart stops out of Jordan Pickford in the England goal, albeit that was about the only work he was forced to do all evening.
England perhaps could’ve added more goals if they wanted too, but seemed far more content to simply toy with Wales at times.
Anthony Gordon squandered two good late chances to add some gloss to England’s victory, which served as the perfect preparation for their trip to Latvia on Tuesday, where they could wrap up their World Cup qualification.
Wales have an equally big game on Monday as they host Belgium in what looks set to be a key game in their bid to reach back-to-back World Cups.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Morgan Rogers (England)
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Key stats
- Morgan Rogers' third-minute strike was England's earliest goal since Luke Shaw scored after two minutes against Italy in the Euro 2020 final
- Bukayo Saka (13) is now Arsenal's highest goalscorer for England, overtaking Cliff Bastin (12)
- Ruben Loftus-Cheek made his first England appearance since November 2018, a gap of six years and 328 days - that is the longest gap between caps for a Three Lions midfielder since Ian Callaghan waited over 11 years between international outings between 1966 and 1977