Match report, reaction and analysis
And with that, I’m going to tootle off. I know you’re all watching Scotland’s penalty shootout anyway. Bye!
Belated explanation for Conor Coady’s absence: he is self-isolating after coming into contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid, and will play no part in England’s matches over the next week.
Gareth Southgate has a chat. He is pleased.
I was really pleased with the way the boys played. A lot of young players, a lot of inexperienced players. We used the ball very well, created a lot of chances, could have been more comfortable but overall very pleased. We were a bit slow at the start but that’s understandable, it’s not a team that’s had a lot of time to work together. The longer the game went on a lot of interplay was very good. So I was very pleased. Jadon and Jack, they’ve got the freedom to go either side of the pitch and create overloads, and I thought at times both of them did that really well.
David Hytner’s match report has landed!
It was a night when England’s superiority was so pronounced it felt a little strange to think they had not beaten the Republic of Ireland for 35 years. The run was sparked by the Ray Houghton-inspired defeat at Euro 88, with six draws after that, many of them turgid, but here there was only expression as Gareth Southgate enjoyed doing what he is paid to do – win football matches.
The manager has more closely resembled a politician for much of the season and he could reference a “turbulent week” for the Football Association before kick-off, one scarred by the demise of the organisation’s now former chairman, Greg Clarke. There was plenty for Southgate to savour on the field, principally 61 minutes of driving excellence from Jack Grealish, who further fired the clamour for his inclusion in competitive matches.
Much more here:
Jack Grealish isn’t the most interesting talker in the world. He lets his feet do his talking:
It was obviously good to get my second start, and I thought we controlled the game well and it’s always nice to get the win. I’ve been trying to score more, assist more this season. I got the assist for Jadon, which I’m happy about, but I could have scored and I could have assisted more.
Coming here and training with these guys, it just steps up everything about your game. I’m trying to take as much as I can off them and I think it’s helped me.
Final score: England 3-0 Republic of Ireland
90+3 mins: It’s all over! England have beaten the Republic of Ireland for the first time since 1985!
Updated
90+1 mins: There will be two added minutes here, and it starts with the Republic winning their first corner, which Duffy heads over the bar.
88 mins: Long gets to Foden’s cross just before Abraham, and England will have to make do with a corner, which Maguire heads wide.
87 mins: Abraham carries the ball forwards, with Maitland-Niles running free to his right. The forward pretty much waits until a defender finally decides to block the pass, and then plays it.
84 mins: Ireland are massaging their possession statistics, and England are pretty much letting them do it. The home side’s penalty area remains pretty emphatically unthreatened.
80 mins: Ireland have another shot! Curtis with this one, low and hard but from far enough away to make Henderson’s task straightforward.
79 mins: The game enters a familiar post-loads-of-substitutions lull.
75 mins: A couple of substitutions I didn’t tell you about because exciting things were happening elsewhere: Molumby and Curtis are on, and Hourihane and Idah off. Both teams have now made all five of their substitutions.
73 mins: Jude Bellingham is a full England international. The 17-year-old has come on for Mason Mount.
72 mins: Ireland have a shot! Browne blasts a low effort from just inside the area, and Henderson saves with his feet!
71 mins: A 90th-minute equaliser for Serbia here:
71 mins: The Republic have won a throw-in, 10 yards inside England’s half. I think that’s their finest attacking moment of the second half.
70 mins: An 87th-minute own-goal equaliser for Northern Ireland here:
68 mins: England play the corner short, and Keane is astonished when Sancho hits a hard, low pull-back to him of all people. His first touch flicks it up in the air, and he spins and sends a volleyed shot so wide it hits Abraham, and still goes well wide.
68 mins: More good combinations for England on the left, but Saka’s cross is deflected behind.
67 mins: England win a free-kick on the left, and Saka’s delivery is delicious, but Maguire can’t quite get his forehead on it.
66 mins: Dean Henderson has played two passes. He has been entirely unemployed.
63 mins: Tammy Abraham replaces Dominic Calvert-Lewin for the English.
62 mins: Maitland-Niles plays a nice one-two with Mount, bursts into the area, andthen completely mishits his cross when really England should have converted that opportunity into a shot.
60 mins: Five substitutions! Five! Ireland make three, McClean, Long and Brady come on, as do Maitland-Niles and Foden for England. O’Dowda, Christie and Horgan are off, along with Mings and Grealish.
57 mins: England are pretty much playing with a front five and a back five at the moment. Maguire has the ball in defence, so he lifts it over the Irish midfield and onto the chest of the unmarked Saka, and England are on the attack again.
GOAL! England 3-0 Republic of Ireland (Calvert-Lewin, 56 mins)
That’s an impeccable penalty from Calvert-Lewin! Randolph dives low to his left while the ball is whipped the other way, perfectly into the top corner.
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Penalty to England!
55 mins: Saka runs into the area, is tripped by Christie about a foot the wrong side of the line, and the referee points to the spot!
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53 mins: Check out this backheel near-assist. From a centre-back!
Tyrone Mings channelling his inner Messi
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) November 12, 2020
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51 mins: England have started the second half not so much on the front foot as on the front yard. Saka crosses to the far post, but the ball brushes Doherty’s eyebrows and the slight change in flight is enough to befuddle Calvert-Lewin, who heads wide.
50 mins: Then James reaches the edge of the area, but his shot skews wide.
49 mins: Grealish plays the ball into Mings, who releases Saka with an excellent backheel, but the finish is poor and the ball hits only the side netting.
49 mins: If you’d like to read about a match that actually meant something, this might be up your street:
47 mins: England lead 11-1 on shots after the first half, and 10-0 on corners. Grealish has England’s 12th shot, from 15 yards or so, but it curls a couple of yards wide.
46 mins: Peeeep! Play has resumed.
The first of those substitutions involves Dean Henderson, who has replaced Nick Pope at the break.
The players are on their way back out. Hold on to your hats, there are going to be a lot of substitutions in the next 50 minutes or so.
“No wish to open up the same old debate but I just think Grealish is the best pound for pound midfielder England have got,” writes Dean Kinsella. “Aside from his vision and skill, he’s such a grafter.” He is outstanding, and I can see him and Sancho combining for quite a few more goals over the next few years. Also, he and Ross Barkley were absolutely thrilling together against Arsenal at the weekend.
Half time: England 2-0 Republic of Ireland
45+2 mins: A shot from Mings rolls wide, and that’s the end of a first half that has been extremely one-sided since the promise shown by Ireland in the opening 10 minutes or so disappeared without trace.
45+2 mins: Grealish runs into the left of the area, gets to the byline and pulls back. The camera pans from left to right, and you’re waiting for someone to appear to turn it in, but nobody in a blue shirt does, and O’Dowda clears.
45+1 mins: There will be about two minutes of stoppage time, and they start with the Republic having a bit of possession, at least until Hendrick gives it away.
44 mins: England keep the ball for a while, but seem in no hurry to do anything very productive with it.
41 mins: England have the ball on the left, but Horgan does an excellent job of covering Saka, who would otherwise have been clear in the area.
40 mins: Hendrick crosses from deep, and Pope comes a long way to claim. Excellent area management there.
37 mins: Another chance! Grealish finds Sancho with a fine pass, and he runs across the edge of the area before shooting back across Randolph, but Christie gets in the way.
35 mins: “What formation are England playing? And if it the 5-2-3 they’ve played in the last few games, is it looking as disjointed? Why would Southgate persist with it?” wonders James Bolle. After a worrying start, it’s working out pretty well. I think there’s a certain calibre of opponents against which you can get away with playing Sancho, Mount, Grealish, Saka and Calvert-Lewin, and the Republic look like they are one of those. England have looked very weak in midfield in this system, with too many people in defence and in attack, but it does allow them to attack well when they are allowed to dominate possession.
GOAL! England 2-0 Republic of Ireland (Sancho, 31 mins)
That’s an excellent take from Sancho! From the last corner the ball is headed out to Winks, re-centred, headed out to Winks again, this time worked via Grealish to Sancho on the left, and he cuts onto his right foot and shoots through Hendrick’s legs, across goal and in at the far post!
Updated
30 mins: England are a corner-winning machine. Calvert-Lewin steals the ball from Duffy’s toe, and the defender recovers to turn it behind. This one is headed clear.
27 mins: Another good corner, another Maguire header, and Randolph tips over the bar!
26 mins: Good work on the right from Sancho and Grealish, who passes to James, whose pull-back finds Calvert-Lewin, but Duffy slides in to deflect the shot wide!
25 mins: The goal has at least temporarily changed the flow of the game, with England looking a little brighter.
21 mins: Grealish carries the ball goalwards, and Calvert-Lewin’s run infield from the right makes space for Sancho. But Grealish delays his pass, eventually hits it into a defender, and the chance is gone.
20 mins: A cross from the left runs to Sancho, who lays off to Mount, whose low drive is blocked on its way to goal.
19 mins: Maguire challenged Duffy for the header there, and the ball came off both of them, neither having full control of its direction. Fair to say it worked out pretty well for England.
GOAL! England 1-0 Ireland (Maguire, 18 mins)
England score from the corner! It’s headed out to Winks, whose cross lands on the edge of the six-yard box and is guided in by Maguire!
Updated
17 mins: Chance for England! They work the ball to James on the right, Randolph comes out and flaps miserably at his cross, palming it to Saka and falling over. Happily, he falls right into the path of Saka’s snap shot.
15 mins: Now Idah breaks down the left, but Mings clears his cross, just ahead of Browne. Ireland have done all the attacking so far.
14 mins: It’s all over for Egan, who is led from the field as Dara O’Shea comes on to replace him.
13 mins: Egan has gone back down, perhaps a delayed response to that earlier collision with Hourihane.
12 mins: Ireland win a free-kick on the right-hand corner of the England penalty area, but Pope comes out well to punch Hourihane’s cross away from danger.
9 mins: Another decent Ireland attack, or perhaps a continuation of the last, as Hourihane lifts the ball into the box and Horgan volleys it back across goal, but there’s nobody on hand to turn it in.
9 mins: Horgan and Brown combine well on Ireland’s right, but Reece James wins the race to the former’s low cross.
7 mins: The next corner is flicked on by Sancho at the near post and falls to Mings at the far, who heads over.
5 mins: A good ball in from Saka leads to a corner, which leads to Egan heading Hourihane’s elbow and going down dazed.
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4 mins: “Is there a reason Conor Coady isn’t in the team or on the bench?” asks Alan Hempton. “Looks like he’s the only one of the squad not involved.” It is a little puzzling, but I expect he’ll be back in the team in Belgium on Sunday.
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2 mins: England are for some reason wearing their all-blue away kit. Grealish goes down way too easily about 30 yards from goal, and the referee rightly ignores him.
1 min: Peeeeeeep! The Republic of Ireland, in white shirts and stockings and green shorts if that helps your visualisation efforts, get the game started.
Before kick-off, a period of applause in memory of Nobby Stiles, Albert Quixall and Tony Waiters, three England internationals who sadly died in recent days.
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Out come the players!
Actually a decent Wembley atmosphere for a friendly
— Barney Ronay (@barneyronay) November 12, 2020
It’s liveblog crazy in Guardian towers this evening. Also ongoing:
“Mr O’Donovan left Reece James out of his list of England starters in this game that qualify (or did once qualify) to play for Ireland,” says JR. “And let us not forget Rice, Kane, and Bellingham who are on the bench.”
“It should be pointed out that current English players like Kane (grandfather from Galway) and Rice were also eligible for Ireland,” adds Niall O’Keeffe. “People tend to forget how small the Irish population is (just under 5m) but thankfully immigration has now replaced mass emigration so future managers will have a deeper pool to pick from.”
Gareth Southgate has a chat, first about turmoil at the FA:
We’ve had an incredible few months. It’s nice to be focused on football. The players are, they’re looking forward to playing and we’re looking forward to seeing them play. It’s been a turbulent week for the FA but I’ve got to think about the football.
And then about Joe Gomez’s injury:
I had a long chat with Jurgen last night. All managers are worried about player welfare. To lose a player as we did yesterday, for us and for Liverpool but most importantly for the boy was really tragic. There needs to be a look at the calendar. We’re fortunate, we’ve got six subs tonight and we’ve got to try to lessen the load as much as we can for the players. The injury was so unique in how it happened, we know that it was just a consequence of the number of games, really, and wherever he’d have been there’s a chance that would have happened. We’re on the same page, we think the welfare of the players is critical.
I’ve seen players wear elastic headbands, but James McClean’s blue legband is new to me.
“Do you think this is the first England side to have played Ireland with more players in the XI who qualify to play for Ireland (Grealish, Maguire, Keane), than Ireland have players who qualified to play for England (just Christie, I think)?” asks John O’Donovan. “That’s not even counting the Pope in goal.” A very decent question. When they played at the 1990 World Cup, for example, the Republic used 12 players in all, of whom seven were born in England, plus one in Scotland and one in Wales.
I’m having trouble making sense of this.
Here are the teams again in purely textual form, for those who can’t see Twitter embeds:
England: Pope, James, Keane, Maguire, Mings, Saka, Mount, Winks, Grealish, Sancho, Calvert-Lewin. Subs: Dean Henderson, Rice, Abraham, Maitland-Niles, Bellingham, Foden, Kane, Dier, Chilwell, Jordan Henderson, Pickford.
Rep of Ireland: Randolph, Doherty, Duffy, Egan, O’Dowda, Christie, Hourihane, Hendrick, Horgan, Idah, Browne. Subs: Travers, Brady, McClean, Long, Collins, Maguire, O’Shea, Curtis, Molumby, Kelleher.
Referee: Carlos Del Cerro (Spain).
Seamus Coleman and James McCarthy are both late withdrawals from the Ireland squad. Coleman, who had battled his way back from a hamstring problem to meet up with his team-mates, missed out with what was described by the Football Association of Ireland as “a recurrence of a previous injury” suffered in training at Wembley on Wednesday evening, while Crystal Palace’s McCarthy was absent due to “family reasons”. Stephen Kenny makes four changes to the side which lost 1-0 in Finland last time out as John Egan, Cyrus Christie, Callum O’Dowda and 19-year-old Adam Idah replaced Dara O’Shea, the injured Enda Stevens, Jayson Molumby and Sean Maguire.
In case you missed it, a titbit of England news: the match between England and Iceland will go ahead at Wembley next Wednesday. Let’s hope it’s as good as the one in Iceland in September, eh?
We are pleased to confirm that following discussions with the relevant authorities next Wednesday’s UEFA Nations League fixture against Iceland will go ahead at Wembley Stadium. pic.twitter.com/dyv5UuV1aW
— FA Spokesperson (@FAspokesperson) November 12, 2020
Here’s PA Media’s take on it:
England’s Nations League match against Iceland next week will be played at Wembley after the UK Government granted a travel exemption to the visiting side.
The venue of the Three Lions’ group finale - and final fixture of 2020 - has been in doubt due to issues arising from Iceland’s game in Copenhagen on Sunday.
Denmark has been subject of a travel ban since November 7 due to concerns over a new strain of Covid-19, putting the Wembley encounter in jeopardy as the Football Association looked at instead hosting the game in Germany.
The PA news agency understands Albania was another option put forward by UEFA, but the national stadium in London has now been given the green light to host the match next Wednesday.
The FA said in a statement: “We are pleased to confirm that following discussions with the relevant authorities next Wednesday’s UEFA Nations League fixture against Iceland will go ahead at Wembley Stadium.”
The Government exemption was announced on Thursday evening, when it was confirmed that the travel ban on Denmark had been extended “for a further 14 days following an outbreak of coronavirus in mink farms”.
The Department for Transport said: “The government has also announced a limited exemption for a small number of Danish and Icelandic national football players to travel from the UK to Copenhagen and back, without the need to self-isolate, to take part in upcoming international football fixtures.
“This temporary and extremely limited exemption will allow the relevant players and essential staff support to be exempt from the new requirements and will help reduce any disruption for England’s upcoming Nations League fixtures.”
The teams!
The teams have been announced, and here they jolly well are. Jude Bellingham is on the bench, Jack Grealish and Bukayo Saka are in the team.
Here's how the #ThreeLions line up for tonight's game against Ireland! 📋 pic.twitter.com/DiUpJbmryi
— England (@England) November 12, 2020
STARTING XI | England v Ireland
— FAIreland ⚽️🇮🇪 (@FAIreland) November 12, 2020
Shane Duffy captains the side, as Seamus Coleman and James McCarthy are ruled out for the Wembley clash#COYBIG | #ENGIRL pic.twitter.com/GiWtWPeqsL
Hello world!
For the 17th time in all of human history, England’s senior men’s side play the Republic of Ireland at the sport of association football tonight. Somewhere in the back of my mind a warning bell going off, prompted by hazy memories of matches best forgotten. Though my subconscious has done its best to expunge them, I vaguely recall being particularly unimpressed with games between these opponents, which is a particularly bad sign given that most England games are fairly unimpressive. The last seven results in matches between these teams have been: 0-0, 1-1, 1-0, 1-1, 1-1, 1-1, 0-1. In just five of the 16 previous games has either side scored more than once, and they have never both scored more than once in the same game.
Anyway, Jude Bellingham! The midfielder’s canny Premier League-dodging career has ensured that many England fans will see him play for the first time tonight, when he makes his senior international debut. He thus joins the list of greats who have made their first appearances for England against the Republic, which incudes Bryan Robson, Chris Waddle, Jamie Vardy, um, Warren Barton and, er, Bert Mozley.
England had originally planned to play New Zealand this evening. As it happens, exactly a year ago (on Saturday) the Kiwis played a friendly in Dublin, when the Republic trotted out 3-1 winners. Since then they have played six games, which have ended 1-1, 1-1, 0-1, 0-0, 0-0 and 0-1. “We want to perform well. The players are very committed,” says Stephen Kenny, their winless coach, hopefully. Well, time will tell, I suppose.
