ENGLAND CRUISE
Foden repays faith of Southgate after Rice starts the rout
THEY would have dreamed about this night without ever t r uly t hinking it would be possible. Declan Rice and Mason Mount grew up together as childhood best friends. Inseparable from the moment they met in Chelsea’s Under 8s — last night was truly the stuff boyhood dreams are made of. From the playground, to the training ground. Then to the Premier League and now scoring for England on the same night, under the lights at Wembley.
What a journey to make with your best mate.
Gareth Southgate has shown fierce loyalty to Rice and Mount in the face of lingering questions from outside the camp about his faith in the pair.
And the manager was rewarded last night as the midfield duo fired England towards victory over Iceland as their UEFA Nations League campaign ended with the easiest of victories.
It was quite a night for Phil Foden, too. His first international goals to cap a performance bursting with excellence.
All in all a very satisfying night f or Southgate. In the grand scheme of things there was little, if that, riding on this.
But the manager spent the days prior to this clash stressing the importance of international football amid a growing ambivalence towards quite how necessary these fixtures are given the contentious issue of player welfare.
Try telling Jack Grealish, who is surely knocking on the door of a starting role at next summer’s Euros, that this game was pointless. Try telling Bukayo Saka, who has a real opportunity of displacing Ben Chilwell as England’s firstchoice left wing-back, that last night was unnecessary.
Try explaining to Foden, who needed to build bridges following the Reykjavik hotel indiscretion that saw him excluded from the previous squad, that this game wasn’t important.
Indeed, see if Rice forgets last night in a hurry. Foden’s outswinging free kick in the 20th minute was bang on the money, as was Rice’s headed connection — his glance eluding Ogmundur Kristinsson at the far post as the West Ham midfielder scored his first England goal. The jubilation on his face spoke a thousand words.
Four minutes later England doubled their lead. Iceland, who were so resilient in September’s reverse fixture, were crumbling. Saka’s cross into the area caused unnecessary havoc before Mount, following Harry Kane’s touch, slotted home from close range.
England were home and hosed i nside 25 minutes and Foden almost added a third on the halfhour. The Manchester City man looks an absolute shoo- in for Southgate’s squad next summer on this evidence.
Any doubt over the outcome disappeared in the 54th minute when Iceland were reduced to 10 men.
Birkir Saevarsson, already booked in the first half, felt he had no option but to pull Saka’s shirt after the Arsenal star had exchanged passes with Kane.
Referee Fabio Verissimo had no hesitation, or sympathy for that matter, as he brandished a second yellow card.
It would, of course, be wrong to attach too much credibility to this triumph. To have any chance of lifting their first trophy since 1966 next summer, they will have to overcome more teams of Belgium’s quality than last night’ s opponents.
Kane will have to rediscover his scoring boots, too. It is now six international games without a goal for the England captain.
He was substituted in place of Tammy Abraham during the closing stages. Southgate is hoping his talismanic striker is merely timing his run, at least on the international stage, to perfection ahead of the European Championship.
But that is a debate for another day. Last night was all about Engl and’s young guns, especially Foden.
The 20-year-old finished with a flurry, scoring twice in quick succession — his second a beautifully struck effort from 20 yards.
In the end, a beautiful night’s work for England’s fledglings.