International Match
at Wembley Stadium
England (2) 2
Gary Cahill 7,
Harry Kane 39
Nigeria (0) 1
Alex Iwobi 47
Admission - Club Wembley guest
Programme - £5
Attendance - 70,025
England did enough to win, against a Nigeria side who were so piss poor in the first half, that I had been checking the times of earlier trains home, after only around half a hour of the game had elapsed.
But they finally turned up and made a game of it after half time... which was nice of them.
Kieran Trippier was one of the success stories of the afternoon; it was his free kick that was turned away for a corner, that he took himself and delivered a dipping ball between Obi Mikel and Troost-Ekong, who were both out jumped by Gary Cahill who crashed a header into the roof of the net after seven minutes.
The remainder of the first half was more or less a game of keep-ball practice for Gareth Southgate's side, while Nigeria frequently helped their hosts with their glorified practice exercise, by squandering possession way too easily, time and time again..
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| A minutes applause in remembrance of Ray Wilkins and Ray Wilson Photo: Getty Images |
Dele Alli was booed by the Nigerian fans, every time he got near the ball, because his father Kehinde was born in the African country, and he qualified by birthright to play for either England or Nigeria.
The 22 year old has represented England since 2012, when he first turned out for the Under 17 side, around which time he had a vision during a restless night's sleep about how horrible the Nigeria kit would be circa 2018, so he opted against choosing them... and his loyalty to his mother's country of birth, led to him becoming part of the England senior squad in October 2016.
Harry Kane doubled England's lead, shortly before half time, after he'd combined well with both Eric Dier and Raheem Sterling before his shot from eighteen yards found it's way into the back of the 'Super Eagles' net after their nineteen year old keeper Francis Uzoho, had a bit of a 'that's what you call growing up in public', nightmare of a moment.
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| The Nigeria shirt circa 2018. People are actually raving about and buying this crap. |
Alex Iwobi pulled a goal back for the visitors two minutes after the restart, when Odion Ighalo did well to control a pass that dropped over his right shoulder before lashing it across the face of Jordan Pickford's goal, where it crashed against the left hand upright and rebounded into the path of the Arsenal player.
Raheem Sterling was booked for diving as he came up against Uzoho just inside the penalty area, but he might as well give the press vultures something real to tear him apart for, rather than all of the team undermining bullshit they've been spouting of late. But ain't that just the way in the build up to a major tournament, in this green and pleasant land of ours. I'm not condoning Sterling's actions, but name me a forward who hasn't gone down easily in a penalty area before... remember Michael Owen v Argentina in the 1998 World Cup anyone!? Just in case you don't, here it is again.
In my eyes... and I had my new varifocals on, Sterling's only crime today was rushing things and trying too hard to put all of the recent media invented bile behind him.
But though Nigeria actually began to look like credible opposition for England after Iwobi's goal, the home side were relatively untroubled for the remainder of the game and comfortably saw the game out and claimed the win... apparently results don't matter in friendly games, but I've yet to hear of any team that doesn't perform better when they have developed a winning mindset and are on a run of good results, so though it wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing of wins at times, at least the England management had time to see which players fit into their chosen system of play, before the World Cup in Russia starts in earnest later this month... OK smart arses, I know it actually starts in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium really, when the host nation have a 'shoe-in' of a game v. Saudi Arabia.
FT: England 2 v Nigeria 1
England next face Costa Rica at Elland Road, the home of Leeds United, on Thursday night; but this was definitely the last game of the 2017-18 season that I will be attending.
THE66POW will be back again, once the pre-season friendlies commence.
