By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) -England racked up an eighth successive victory against Wales with a 3-0 cruise in an international friendly at Wembley on Thursday to fully justify head coach Thomas Tuchel’s decision to omit some leading lights from his squad.
Goals by Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins and Bukayo Saka effectively ended the match as contest with only 20 minutes on the clock as a feeble Wales were left reeling.
Rogers side-footed England’s first after three minutes and Watkins, starting in place of injured skipper Harry Kane, tapped home the second before Saka, back from injury that kept him out last month, curled in a stunning third.
Wales avoided further damage and did improve slightly after the break but will already have had one eye on next Monday’s vital World Cup qualifier against Belgium in Cardiff.
England face Latvia away next Tuesday when they could clinch top spot in their group and automatic qualification for next year’s finals in North America.
Tuchel raised eyebrows by leaving Phil Foden and Jack Grealish and most notably Jude Bellingham out of his squad and rewarding those who played in wins against Andorra and Serbia last month, the latter 5-0 win being the best of the German’s reign.
England were also without record goalscorer Kane because of an ankle injury picked up playing for Bayern Munich at the weekend and one pre-match question was how Tuchel’s side would manage without a player who has scored 74 goals in 109 appearances.
The answer was emphatic as they capitalised on a woeful Wales start to blow their opponents away.
Wales manager Craig Bellamy said in the build-up there was no such thing as a friendly, even if Monday’s clash with Belgium would have been his main focus.
But his defenders did not appear to have taken that message on board as England ran riot from the first whistle.
In England’s thrashing of Serbia, Noni Madueke, Ezri Konsa and Marc Guehi all scored their first senior England goals.
Rogers continued that trend at Wembley as Guehi was far more switched on than any Welsh player to keep a deep corner alive beyond the back post before pulling back a pass for the unmarked Rogers to sweep a shot past Karl Darlow.
“Right at the top. It’s a proud moment to do it at home too in a home nation derby. A dream come true,” Rogers said.
That meant England have scored in 17 successive matches for the first time since 1991 and there was more to come.
If the first goal made Bellamy wince, the second would have had him pulling his hair out as somehow nine Welsh players could not stop Guehi’s prodded pass reaching Watkins who could hardly believe his luck, tapping in from a yard out.
It soon got even worse for Wales as Saka received the ball on the right and was given far too much time to cut in, pick his spot, and curl an unstoppable left-footer into the top corner.
Rogers struck the crossbar early in the second half before a raft of substitutions by both managers disrupted the flow of the game and England’s fans began to drift home.
Wales’s sizeable following did at least create some atmosphere and were rewarded with an improved display as England keeper Jordan Pickford made good saves from David Brooks and Chris Mepham.
Pickford has now kept eight clean sheets in his last eight appearances for his country, surpassing the record he shared with England great Gordon Banks.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
