England v Australia: men’s international friendly – live | Friendlies

14 min: Alexander-Arnold sprays a move down the appropriate for Bowen, who gambols into the field just for his cutback to be intercepted. Australia clear their strains. The most promising assaults for each side are taking place on the far aspect of the pitch. Trent in microcosm?

12 min: … So Having Said That … (#2 in an ongoing sequence). Baccus curls a shot in direction of the highest proper from 25 yards. It flicks off Tomori, placing Johnstone in deep trouble. But the keeper extends totally to tip across the publish. Wonderful save. Nothing comes from the ensuing nook.

10 min: England are establishing a modicum of management now. Australia’s vibrant first couple of minutes already a factor of the previous.

8 min: … so having simply stated that, they spring into life and needs to be main. Bowen activates the jets down the appropriate and slips Gallagher in on the underlap. Gallagher whistles a low cross by way of the six-yard field and Maddison, leg prolonged, does his finest Gazza-in-the-Euro-96-semi impression, lacking the poke house by inches. Oh Gazza James!

7 min: It hasn’t taken lengthy for Wembley to fall quiet. The climate is terrible, to be truthful. England have achieved nothing of notice but.

5 min: Metcalfe probes down the left and it requires the mix of Alexander-Arnold and Tomori to pressure him to show tail. Meanwhile right here’s an incredible thought courtesy of Charles Antaki: “As the camera pans along the lineups during the national anthems, you’d hope the director would ignore the players and just focus on the faces of the urchins lined up in front of them – you don’t get many chances to see unqualified joy. Especially not at the moment.”

3 min: Gallagher’s nervous header again in direction of Johnstone requires Alexander-Arnold to spin and hook clear beneath strain from Duke. A reasonably vibrant begin by the Socceroos.

2 min: A barely nervous begin for Johnstone in England’s purpose, as the primary backpass that comes his means is whacked wildly out of play.

1 min: Watkins is ok to proceed. It’s raining loads.

Stéphanie Frappart of France turns into the primary lady to blow the whistle for kick-off at a men’s international at Wembley. England lump the ball ahead, and Watkins comes off second finest in an aerial duel with Burgess. Ouch, he felt that smack on the lug.

Before kick-off, a interval of silence in solidarity with the individuals of Israel and Palestine. The gamers put on black armbands. The silence is splendidly, touchingly noticed.

The groups emerge from the tunnel, regardless of the rain coming down in stair-rods. England in white and blue, Australia in yellow and inexperienced. As aesthetics go, it’s positively Ashestastic. Then a fast belt of Advance Australia Fair and God Save the King; could everybody advance and be saved. We’ll be off after a fast little bit of school-days reminiscing from Chris Paraskevas: “I still remember the Upton Park boilover like it was yesterday. Our high school sports co-ordinator was football-mad and literally wheeled out a CRT television for students to watch in the morning before class started. (Back in the days before streaming, we huddled around things called ‘Televisions’.) 1-0. 2-0. Bedlam. At half-time the bell goes for morning assembly. We’re all hanging to know the result, unable to focus on the principal’s speech… Suddenly the sport co-ordinator bursts on stage, literally grabs the microphone and after a beat calmly says: ‘Final Score: England 1-3 Australia.’ Period 1 Mathematics Never went down so sweet.”

Before the groups arrive, there’s a second of the sweetest and warmest applause in reminiscence of former England internationals Trevor Francis and Francis Lee. Two real greats who served their nation with distinction.

Pre-match postbag. “I mean, I’m not biased or anything,” begins Simon McMahon, who got here on fairly the malt-soaked journey with the MBM final night time, “but just look at that Australian squad, for XXXX’s sake. Strain, Souttar, Rowles, Baccus, Irvine, Boyle, Behich. It’s like a Scottish League select. With added optimism and mateship.” Hope the VAR VAT 69 head has worn off by now, Simon.

Meanwhile David Wall provides: “It’s serendipitous that the match is on Channel 4 tonight as it’s pundit Joe Cole that i’ve been thinking about with the recent talk about Phil Foden moving into the centre of the pitch, rather than playing wide, at some point for both City and England.

“I remember it was always assumed that Cole would mature into a Continental-style trequartista in the mould of Deco, Zidane, or Roberto Baggio. Of course that never happened, it projected onto him skills and temperament that people wanted him to have rather than thinking about what he was really like. I wonder whether people are doing similar with Foden. It would be a shame if so as there always seemed a bit of disappointment about Cole, despite the fact that he had a really successful career, because he didn’t have the career many people imagined him having (see also Wayne Rooney).

“Wouldn’t it be nice if people could just appreciate and make the most of Foden’s actual ability rather than trying to fit him into something he might not be best suited to.”

Gareth Southgate speaks to Channel 4. “We’ve got opportunities for people to play tonight and need to find out about a few … we’ve got players who can use the ball well … but we’ve got to get the balance right against an Australia team that will work very hard and will cause us problems if our mentality is not right.”

He additionally talks up Levi Colwill and James Maddison, whereas revealing that Trent Alexander-Arnold may have some freedom to roam from the right-back place.

England hand a debut to Chelsea defender Levi Colwill. The two largest lions begin on the bench – Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham to come back on later, little doubt – as Gareth Soughgate goes with Jarrod Bowen and Ollie Watkins up entrance. Jordan Henderson wears the armband in Kane’s stead, and the Al-Ettifaq midfielder will little doubt obtain some useful careers recommendation from members of the group as he goes about his enterprise.

The Socceroos even have a debutant of their ranks. A full debutant, that’s. St Mirren right-back Ryan Strain, born in Coventry, begins for Australia for the primary time, having already come on as a sub towards New Zealand and Argentina. Strain’s grandfather Gerry Baker gained the Scottish Cup with the Buddies in 1959, scoring within the remaining towards Aberdeen, and a 12 months later scored a club-record ten-goal haul within the cup throughout a 15-0 win over Glasgow University; Gerald’s brother Joe was a star for Hibs, Torino, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest through the Sixties. Oh, and if that’s not sufficient sporting legacy in a single household, Strain’s mom Lorraine Baker completed fifth within the 800m on the 1984 Olympics.

The groups

Preamble