ENGLAND 3, REPUBLIC OF IRELAND 0
Harry Maguire’s rehabilitation was completed as he captained England for the first time in a comfortable friendly win against the Republic of Ireland at Wembley.
It had been a tumultuous period in the career of the central defender who spent time in prison on the Greek island of Mykonos in late August.
Subsequently dropped by England manager Gareth Southgate for the September internationals, Maguire was recalled for the October fixtures but in his last appearance was sent off against Denmark.
In light of that, many were perhaps surprised to see Southgate hand Maguire the captain’s armband in the absence of Harry Kane.
Embed from Getty ImagesBut it clearly meant a lot to the Manchester United skipper who said: “I was really proud to lead my country. It was a great achievement for myself.
“It was a great night for myself and great night for the team and important to get the win.
“The clean sheet was nice for a defender and then a goal of top was the icing.”
It was a pleasing night for Southgate bearing in mind England had not beaten their opponents since 1985.
He said: “I was really pleased how the boys played.
“We had a lot of young players and a lot of inexperienced players.
“We used the ball well, created a lot of chances and could have been more comfortable if we had taken more of the chances.
“Overall, I was very pleased after a slow start which was understandable as it was a team rhat has not had a lot of time to work together.
“The longer the game went on and some of the interplay was very good so I was very pleased.”
England, who remembered 1966 World Cup winner Nobby Stiles before kick-off, had been due to play New Zealand but there was a late switch of opponents.
They played with a 3-4-2-1 system with Mason Mount and Harry Winks the holding midfield players with full backs Reece James and Bukayo Saka either side.
Further upfield, Jack Grealish and Jadon Sancho operated behind Dominic Calvert-Lewin who was given another chance with Kane an unused substitute.
The breakthrough came in the 18th minute when Maguire headed home a corner.
It was won when Republic goalkeeper Darren Randolph flapped at a cross and then managed to block Saka’s follow-up shot which diverted for the dead ball.
Winks and Grealish linked superbly to set up Borussia Dortmund’s Sancho who cut in from the left before threading a shot low to the left of Randolph.
Saka almost scored a third early in the second half after he was released by Tyrone Mings’ cheeky back heel, but he fired into the side netting.
The lively Saka won the penalty for England’s final goal in the 55th minute after he lured Cyrus Christie into making a rash challenge.
Calvert-Lewis stepped forward to send Randolph the wrong way for his second international goal.
There was a return for Phil Foden, the Manchester City player sent home in disgrace from Iceland in September and left out of the October games as he replaced Grealish after an hour.
And there was a debut for Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham who, at 17 years and 136 days, became England’s third youngster player when he replaced Mount with 17 minutes left.
Theo Walcott and Wayne Rooney were the two players ahead of him.