England 3-0 Wales: Saka, Rogers & Watkins on target in comfortable friendly win

England's fast start against Wales secured a 3-0 friendly win for the hosts at Wembley Stadium on Thursday.

Match Report

Anthony Gordon almost broke the deadlock 78 seconds into the match from a tight angle on the right but was kept out by Karl Darlow's outstretched leg.

From the resulting corner, Morgan Rogers found the breakthrough; Marc Guehi did brilliantly to keep John Stones' nod down in play before pulling it back for the Aston Villa midfielder to guide into the bottom-left corner for his first England goal.

His club team-mate, Ollie Watkins, then doubled their lead in the 11th minute. Wales failed to clear their lines, and the forward, who replaced the injured Harry Kane in the starting line-up, rifled in from close range after a scramble in the box. 

Wales' poor start was compounded 20 minutes in when Bukayo Saka cut inside from the right before curling a stunning effort into the top-left corner.

England almost had a fourth before the break after the impressive Elliot Anderson played a pacey ball across the face of goal, but Watkins blazed wide from yards out before colliding with the post.

Rogers could have had a second after the break, but under pressure from Joe Rodon, he fired against the crossbar before Jordan Pickford did well to keep out David Brooks' low strike at the other end.

Pickford was alert again to push Chris Mepham's header away from goal later on, but that was the closest Wales came, while Gordon saw late chances go begging.

Data Debrief: Quick out of the blocks

England scored three goals inside the opening 20 minutes of a match for the first time since November 1987 against Yugoslavia, and that fast start served them well here. 

In fact, Rogers' third-minute goal was the Three Lions' earliest goal since Luke Shaw scored after two minutes against Italy in the Euro 2020 final.

It also consigned Wales to their biggest half-time deficit since October 2018 against Spain (also 3-0 in a friendly).

England continued to push in the second half without reward, but they finished the match with 3.01 expected goals (xG) to Wales' 0.53, with the hosts having 17 shots to their visitors' 10.

Match Events

0' The match is about to start!

2' Gordon has a shot saved by the keeper

3' GOAL! Rogers opens the scoring from wonderful assist of Guehi! England 1-0 Wales

11' GOAL! Watkins pounces to bundle the ball over the line! England 2-0 Wales

16' Match Event for England vs Wales

20' GOAL! Saka cuts in and curls a beautiful finish! England 3-0 Wales

29' Declan Rice's threatening free-kick is just over the bar

42' Watkins misses a great chance and hurts himself after colliding with the post

64' Match Event for England vs Wales

77' Wales send on Harris and his first touch is a header that flies over the bar

Line-ups

England XI: Pickford, Stones, Ollie Watkins, Rice, Elliot Anderson, Ngoyo, Guehi, Morgan Rogers, Spence, Gordon, Saka

Subs: Henderson, Burn, Kane, Loftus-Cheek, Dean Henderson, Bowen, Rashford, Gibbs-White, Eberechi Eze, James Trafford, Quansah, Nico O'Reilly, Lewis-Skelly

Wales XI: Darlow, Ben Davies, Kieffer Moore, Harry Wilson, Jay Dasilva, Brooks, Joe Rodon, Ampadu, Liam Cullen, Neco Williams, Brennan Johnson

Subs: Josh Sheehan, Adam Davies, Tom King, Nathan Broadhead, Sorba Thomas, Mepham, Mark Harris, Ben Cabango, Isaak Davies, Rubin Colwill, Jordan James, Joel Colwill, Lewis Koumas, Dylan Lawlor, Ronan Kpakio