Harry Kane scored twice on his 125th appearance for England as the Three Lions beat the Czech Republic 3-0 in the Nations League at Wembley on Tuesday. The victory was comfortable, and Kane’s brace came on a historic night when he became the country’s joint-highest appearance-maker alongside Peter Shilton.
England’s performance drew a range of ratings from Sami Mokbel. Kane was the standout with an 8. Trent Alexander-Arnold, Lewis Hall, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Jude Bellingham and Morgan Rogers were all rated 7, while Jordan Pickford, Jarell Quansah, Marc Guehi, Elliot Anderson and Eberechi Eze received 6s. The substitutes used — James Garner, Jarrad Branthwaite, Morgan Gibbs-White, Rio Ngumoha and Dominic Calvert-Lewin — were each given a 6.
Alexander-Arnold was handed another opportunity to impress and took it, with his ability on the ball described as perfect for deep-lying opponents like the Czech Republic. Hall is now in a fight with Nico O’Reilly for the role of England’s first-choice left-back, and the international period was described as successful for the Newcastle defender. Lewis-Skelly can be happy with his output on his return to the international scene and, on this evidence, will be unlucky not to be in the next squad.
Quansah was deployed in his favoured centre-back role and looked comfortable, slowly becoming a fixture in the squad. Guehi cruised through the game but for a couple of lapses, and he started all four of England’s matches during the extended international break. Pickford will return to Everton knowing his place is now under threat from James Trafford, having had some shaky moments.
Further forward, Anderson goes from strength to strength at international level and produced a brilliant pass to unlock the Czech Republic for England’s second. Bellingham did not hit the heights of his captivating display in Croatia but still oozed class whenever in possession. Eze improved after an underwhelming first half but did not do enough to cause Thomas Tuchel a selection headache after being handed a rare start. Rogers showed his versatility by starting out on the right and looked comfortable in the role, providing a real threat.
Kane’s historic night saw him become England’s joint-highest appearance-maker alongside Peter Shilton with 125 caps, and he scored twice. The subs used were Garner (on 63 for Anderson), Branthwaite (on 63 for Guehi, on his third cap), Gibbs-White (on 73 for Hall), Ngumoha (on 73 for Bellingham) and Calvert-Lewin (on 82 for Kane). James Trafford, Jason Steele, Bukayo Saka, Anthony Gordon, Trevoh Chalobah and Rico Lewis were unused.