· 2 min readIn this England vs Czechia match, I analyse the key tactical moments, individual performances and turning points of the game.
England and the Czech Republic met again in the fourth round of the Nations League, this time on English soil. In the first meeting, England only unlocked the game after a Czech player was sent off, as they had created very little up to that point. Now they came into it after a historic 7-0 thrashing of Croatia, while the Czech Republic were coming off a 3-1 defeat to Spain and still had no wins in the competition.
England started as expected, with plenty of possession but little danger. By the 17th minute, there had been four shots in the game and none had really caused any problems, all of them from outside the box. And, interestingly, the Czech Republic were having some good spells in possession. It was actually difficult to remember moments like this from the first game, even when they still had eleven players.
In the 24th minute, Bellingham found Morgan Rogers with an absurd pass, but the winger couldn’t get the ball to Kane at the far post. Trent was also frequently appearing through the middle, almost like a midfielder, helping England build their attacks.
The first goal came in the 27th minute, although in a pretty ugly way. Arnold carried the ball through the middle and played it out to the right for Kane, who crossed into the box. The ball was bouncing, Coufal was completely alone and, with nobody even close to him, ended up putting it into his own net. A bizarre and horrible own goal. 1-0.
England then started creating more danger down the right. In the 29th minute, Anderson had space inside the box but shot too high. And in the 40th minute, a completely different goal arrived. Anderson played an absurd first-time pass to Morgan Rogers on the right, who also played it first time into the box. Kane arrived and finished. 2-0 and what a lovely move. Once again, everything came from that right-hand side.
The Czech Republic had had a fairly honest first half, but the own goal had once again put the game on the expected path. At half-time, England had 66% possession and the Czechs had just 0.03 xG.
In the second half, England continued to control the game. In the 53rd minute, Lewis-Skelly produced a lovely dribble on the counter and Arnold found Kane outside the box. The striker had space to shoot and the ball hit the crossbar. It would have been a stunning goal. Shortly afterwards, Bellingham even tried a backheel after a cross from Morgan Rogers, but Hornícek saved it.
In the 57th minute, though, Kane found the net again. From a corner to the far post, he moved brilliantly to get away from his marker, won the ball in the air and headed it. The ball bounced off the ground, Hornícek got a touch to it, but couldn’t stop the 3-0. Six goals in four games in this Nations League. Absurd.
After that, the game slowly died. The Czech Republic had a little more possession, but still couldn’t create any danger. By the 70th minute, they had managed just one shot in the entire game. Macek did get another effort away in the 79th minute from outside the box, but didn’t even hit the target.
And it was perfectly natural for England not to want to force things. At 3-0, with the Czech Republic limited and this being the final game before returning to club football, there was no need to risk injuries. From the 75th minute onwards, the game became quite slow and that was how it ended.
Post-match
It wasn’t a spectacular England performance, but it was a comfortable win. Kane continues to be ridiculous, the right-hand side was decisive again and the Czech Republic simply didn’t have the tools to cause any problems.
