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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Simon Collings

England 4-0 Iceland: Phil Foden brace sees Three Lions end Uefa Nations League campaign on a high

Declan Rice and Phil Foden scored their first goals for England as the Three Lions cruised to a comfortable victory over Iceland.

West Ham midfielder Rice opened the scoring in the 20th minute and Chelsea’s Mason Mount doubled England’s lead shortly after.

Gareth Southgate’s side cruised home from there in this Nations League dead rubber and they wrapped up the win late on as Foden struck twice in the final 10 minutes.

The 4-0 win was a timely victory for England and meant they rounded off 2020 on a high after a year marred by off-field issues.

Despite Southgate admitting his players’ participation in this match was coming under pressure from their clubs, he named a strong side.

Kane captained the team and led the line, while Jack Grealish started his third game in a row of the international break.

And the Aston Villa playmaker shone again, providing England with plenty of creative spark going forward.

It was Foden however, who was playing on the opposite flank, that created England’s first goal as his free-kick was nodded home by Rice after 20 minutes.

Just four minutes later Southgate’s side doubled their lead when Rice’s close friend, Mount, finished well inside the box after Bukayo Saka’s cross had fallen to him.

The Three Lions were cruising from that point and they could have increased their advantage before the break, with Kane and Foden - who was the star of the show on only his second England start - looking lively.

Iceland held out until half-time, but their task was made all more the harder when Birkir Saevarsson was sent off nine minutes into the second-half for a second yellow card after pulling back Saka.

In fairness to the visitors, they managed to hold out until the final 10 minutes before the floodgates opened.

Foden struck twice in the space of four minutes when he first slotted home substitute Jadon Sancho’s cut back - and then fired the ball into the bottom corner from outside the box.

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