Key events
67 min: Vitík is booked for some unnecessary shirt-tugging.
65 min: Coufal’s poor backpass leads to another England corner. Alexander-Arnold’s delivery nearly finds Bellingham; Quansah hits a pearler that smacks Coufal flush in the face, knocking him backwards after a short delay. Coufal gets back up with an amused look on his face.
63 min: Anderson and Guehi are replaced by Garner and Branthwaite. Meanwhile in the other match in A3, Mikel Merino has equalised for Spain in Croatia, where it’s 1-1 after 61 minutes.
62 min: Now it’s Hložek’s turn to nearly steal the ball of Pickford’s toe. What a performance.
61 min: Alexander-Arnold advances down the inside-right channel and aims a rising shot towards the top right. It’s always heading over from the moment the ball leaves his boot.
60 min: One of the biggest cheers of the night as a paper aeroplane flung from the stand makes it onto the pitch. It’s not been much of a contest on the field, so you can kind of understand the emotion.
58 min: Czechia respond with another sub, replacing Ambros with Hložek.
GOAL! England 3-0 Czechia (Kane 57)
Hall hits the corner long from the right. Kane rises highest at the far post, and his downward header squirts into the bottom left. Horníček should save, but doesn’t react quickly enough. Kane’s 91st goal in 125 games!
56 min: Rogers crosses low from the right. Bellingham tries to trick the keeper with a back-flick at the near post. Nearly, but not quite. A corner will have to suffice. From which …
54 min: Sadílek telescopes a leg and clumsily catches Rogers, picking up a booking that’ll see him miss his next match as well, for the Czechs against Spain. Lewis-Skelly then stupidly gets involved, putting himself right up in Sadílek’s grille. The referee goes easy on him, telling him to pipe down rather than flashing a second yellow. It would have been one of the all-time daft dismissals.
53 min: Lewis-Skelly makes good with a sensational Cruyff turn to break into space. He feeds Kane, who aims a rising shot towards the top left. The ball skims off the top of the crossbar.
52 min: Lewis-Skelly tugs away at Šulc, who is going nowhere. A no-brainer of a booking, in more ways than one. Thomas Tuchel is furious with his player, who will now miss England’s next match, against Croatia at Wembley.
50 min: Hall takes liberties in ushering a ball out of play on the Czech right flank. Coufal, chasing what seemingly looks a lost cause, nicks it off him, flying into space on the touchline … but the flag goes up for an England throw. Not sure about that. That was very close to a big blunder by Hall.
48 min: Alexander-Arnold chases a long pass down the right. His instant low cross is deflected behind for a corner … which England don’t get to take, Kane rather harshly penalised for grappling in the box.
46 min: Pickford faffs around with the ball at his feet again, and is nearly closed down by Sadílek. You have to wonder sometimes.
England get the second half started. Czechia have made one change, sending on Radosta for Lingr, who didn’t.
Half-time postbag. “I know for many folks an elongated international break is not terribly popular, but this England squad is certainly benefitting from it. Some of the interpassing has had a much higher level of mutual understanding and the general fluidity of positional swapping has been actually quite thrilling at times. And Bellingham … phew!” – Dean Kinsella
“And to think that ten years ago, Gary Neville had Kane taking corners” – Andrew Goudie
HALF TIME: England 2-0 Czechia
… much to frustrated Czech captain Coufal’s chagrin. He tells it as he sees it to the referee, who fires back a few truths of his own. England meanwhile wander off down the tunnel, half the job completed without fuss.
45 min +1: Guehi clumsily skittles Lingr out on the left. Sadílek sends the free kick in. Quansah heads behind for a corner there’s no time to take. The whistle goes …
45 min: … and Alexander-Arnold swings it in. Long. Anderson and Bellingham take turns to fashion space for a shot; neither manage to do so. There will be one additional first-half minute.
44 min: Hall sends the corner long. Kane competes at the far stick, and earns another corner. This one will come in from the left …
43 min: Kane bustles down the right and competes for a ball he’s got no right to win. But Sadílek hesitates, Kane closes him down, and the ball pings out for a corner. From which …
42 min: That’ll be 90 goals in 125 matches, then. Breaking news: Harry Kane is good. England are good.
GOAL! England 2-0 Czechia (Kane 40)
Anderson shovels a cute pass down the right for Rogers, who cushions a volley through the six-yard box. Kane, his run perfectly timed, opens his body and slams home. He couldn’t miss! What a way to celebrate cap number 125!
39 min: Eze has a chance to cross from the left but decides to turn tail, irritating the crowd a tad. He lays off to Hall, who doesn’t hesitate and delivers. The ball’s hacked clear. A fair chance we’ll see Gordon in the second half?
37 min: The pace drops a bit. As does the atmosphere. All a little bit flat at the moment.
35 min: … so having said that, Guehi takes a poor touch on halfway and allows Sadílek to make off with the ball. England are suddenly light at the back, and are fortunate Šulc butchers a cross from the left with red shirts infield. A timely reminder for England that the job’s not done yet.
33 min: This match is being almost exclusively played out in Czechia’s half. A second England goal feels merely a matter of time.
31 min: It’s not the most original of observations, but … Thomas Tuchel should have taken Trent Alexander-Arnold to the World Cup, shouldn’t he?
Answer: Yes.
29 min: Kane drops deep and creams a diagonal pass towards Alexander-Arnold on the right. Alexander-Arnold sends an instant low cross into the centre. Rogers, his back to goal, cushions the ball into the path of Anderson, who lashes a wild shot miles over the bar. Anderson wears the look of a player who knows he should have worked Horníček at the very least. He probably should have scored.
GOAL! England 1-0 Czechia (Coufal og 27)
Bellingham flicks a pass down the inside-right channel for Kane, who whips a low cross into the box. Coufal thinks Eze is closer than he actually is, and, facing his own goal, extends a leg and diverts the ball past his keeper and into the net. One of the great unforced errors, but hats off to Kane for delivering a ball that put the defender into a blind panic.
