Goals from Anthony Gordon and Harry Kane secured England their first win of the UEFA Nations League campaign with a 2-0 win over Czechia in Prague.
Eager to atone from their 3-2 defeat at Wembley to world champions Spain, England's rearguard looked vulnerable in the opening exchanges but the tide soon turned in the favour of the visitors.
Pavel Sulc's studs-up challenge on Elliot Anderson was upgraded from a yellow card to a red card by VAR, meaning the hosts had to play with 10 men for more than an hour and England's breakthrough felt inevitable, although they did have to wait until after the half-time interval.
England required just one minute and eight seconds after the restart to carve the opener as Trent Alexander-Arnold's sublime delivery found Gordon and the Barcelona winger directed his header into the bottom corner.
Thomas Tuchel's men doubled their advantage through a familiar source 22 minutes later as Kane showcased his marksmanship with a clinical finish to extinguish any hopes of a Czechia comeback.
The result gets England's UEFA Nations League campaign up and running with a trip to Rijeka to face Croatia on Saturday to come.
Czechia v England Timeline
- 25' - Red card for Pavel Sulc.
- 35' - Yellow card for Myles Lewis-Skelly.
- 45' - Ondrej Lingr replaced Adam Karabec.
- 46' - Eberechi Eze replaced Myles Lewis-Skelly.
- 45' - Goal for England! Scored by Anthony Gordon, assisted by Trent Alexander-Arnold.
- 57' - Alex Kral replaced Michal Sadilek, Lukas Ambros replaced Matej Radosta.
- 69' - Goal for England! Scored by Harry Kane.
- 71' - Alex Scott replaced Elliot Anderson, Rio Ngumoha replaced Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham replaced Harry Kane.
- 80' - Daniel Vasulin replaced Adam Hlozek, Roman Macek replaced Lukas Cerv.
- 81' - Morgan Gibbs-White replaced Anthony Gordon.
Czechia v England Match Stats
Czechia | 0-2 | England |
34% | Possession | 66% |
6 | Shots | 22 |
0.33 | Expected Goals | 1.37 |
2 | Shots on Target | 7 |
1 | Big Chances | 2 |
5 | Goalkeeper Saves | 2 |
1 | Corners | 6 |
281/343 | Completed Passes | 618/670 |
9 | Fouls Committed | 12 |
22 | Clearances | 16 |
2 | Offside | 3 |
0 | Yellow Cards | 1 |
1 | Red Cards | 0 |
