Gone in 20 minutes – England 3 Wales 0 | OneFootball

It ended England 3 Wales 0 but that final scoreline doesn’t really tell the full story at all.

A very fluid attacking trio of Ollie Watkins, Anthony Gordon and Bukayo Saka, with Morgan Rogers joining in, the home side were different class and the visitors were just blown away.

That attacking quartet backed up by Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson, have given Thomas Tuchel plenty to think about.

A blistering start to the game saw a scoreline of England 3 Wales 0 after just 20 minutes, as Craig Bellamy’s side were powerless to prevent the early onslaught.

Anthony Gordon started on the left but had the freedom to roam, after only around a minute he came so close to open the scoring. Popping up on the right side, from a tight angle his low shot was deflected past the post with a good save thanks to Karl Darlow’s leg, the former Newcastle United keeper getting an early taste of what was to come.

From the resultant left wing corner, Guehi did well to keep the ball in beyond the far post, turning it back across for Rogers to finish well in only the third minute.

Eight minutes later and England were 2-0 up, as they threatened to score every time they attacked. This time Rogers the provider as he passed low across the goal for Villa teammate Watkins to score from a few yards out.

On 20 minutes it was match over, Saka cutting in from the right and putting a stunning left foot striker into the far top corner.

When a team races into such a dominant early lead, a lot of people will take for granted that 3-0 then becomes five or six at least. However, once England didn’t take their chances in the remainder of the first half as they continued to dominate, little surprise that this game drifted in the second half. England with job done in a friendly and the subs bench used.

Anthony Gordon did well and like many of his teammates, had an excellent first half, with pace and direct running, which led to the first booking of the game as Williams fouled the Newcastle winger in a great position but Rice put the free-kick over the bar.

Ollie Watkins had hurt himself when colliding with the post when he should have scored, so with a dearth of striking options it meant Anthony Gordon asked to play in the false number nine role in the second half with Rashford on the left when replacing Watkins at the break. Gordon did ok there but obviously he is more in the left side role.

The Newcastle winger the only one of the England front six asked to play the full 90 minutes, whilst Dan Burn watched on from the bench.

Wales aren’t the toughest opposition but it was still a very impressive England performance, if this had been a competitive match and they’d needed to score say six or more, I reckon for sure they would have done. However, no need to knock yourself out in an early season friendly with such a long year ahead for both club and country with these players.

Listening to the idiotic Dixon and Matterface on commentary and then reading/hearing media reaction after the game, it was just like the 5-0 England win in Serbia last time out.

So much talk about players Thomas Tuchel had left out, this belief that these dominant performances would automatically have been even more comprehensive if Bellingham had played. Even though I struggle to remember any/many great England team performances when he has played, whilst his own personal displays for England have rarely been close to what he shows for Real Madrid.

Even more bizarre is when the media talk about Grealish and Foden! Honestly, I don’t think I have seen Foden ever play well for England and Grealish has a handful of decent games for Everton after hardly playing first team football in recent years, yet he should suddenly be walking into the team.

The disrespect towards the England players in these dominant wins over Serbia and Wales is laughable. This idea that it would automatically have been the same, if not better, if the media favourites such as Bellingham and Foden had played…is simply based on fantasy. You struggle to remember any matches against half decent opposition when England have looked so dangerous going forward.

England 3 Wales 0

England team v Wales:

Pickford, Konsa, Stones (Lewis-Skelly 80), Guehi, Spence, Rice (Loftus-Cheek 69), Anderson (Henderson 69), Rogers (Gibbs-White 70), Saka (Bowen 70), Gordon, Watkins (Rashford 46)

Subs:

Lewis-Skelly, J Henderson, Kane, Eze, Rashford, Burn, D Henderson, Gibbs-White, Loftus-Cheek, Bowen, Trafford, Quansah, O’Reilly

This friendly was a warm up for the World Cup group qualifier away to Latvia on Tuesday.

Victory in that game would guarantee England topping the group with two matches still to play, guaranteed a place at the 2026 World Cup finals.

This is the October 2025 international schedule for Newcastle United players:

Thursday 9 October

England 3 Wales 0

Anthony Gordon with an excellent first half, as did most of his teammates. England roared into a 3-0 lead after only 20 minutes and then as the game went on, they coasted to victory and countless subs made. Gordon the only one of the front six to play the full game, whilst Dan Burn an unused sub.

Friday 10 October

South Korea v Brazil (Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton) Friendly

Germany v Luxembourg (Nick Woltemade) World Cup group qualifier

Sweden v Switzerland (Anthony Elanga) World Cup group qualifier

Moldova U21s v England U21s (Lewis Miley) U21s European Championship group qualifier

Saturday 11 October

Estonia v Italy (Sandro Tonali) World Cup group qualifier

Monday 13 October

Northern Ireland v Germany (Nick Woltemade) World Cup group qualifier

Sweden v Kosovo (Anthony Elanga) World Cup group qualifier

England U21s v Andorra U21s (Lewis Miley) U21s European Championship group qualifier

Tuesday 14 October

Italy v Israel (Sandro Tonali) World Cup group qualifier

Latvia v England (Anthony Gordon, Dan Burn) World Cup group qualifier