England 2-1 Switzerland: Late Kane penalty ensures Three Lions begin World Cup year victorious

England began their World Cup year with a 2-1 friendly victory over Switzerland at Wembley on Saturday thanks to Harry Kane’s late winner.

The Three Lions were by no means spectacular, but Gareth Southgate will in all likelihood be content as they got the job done despite fielding a somewhat unfamiliar starting XI.

Nevertheless, Southgate may have expected more from a first half that Switzerland had by far the better of, with Breel Embolo’s headed opener one of nine shots to England’s two.

But a fierce Luke Shaw hit right before the break had the hosts level at the interval.

The hosts enjoyed greater control in the second half and eventually dealt the decisive blow via Kane’s penalty, his 49th international strike, leaving him behind only Wayne Rooney (53) for the most England goals.

49 – Harry Kane has now scored 49 goals for England (level with Bobby Charlton), only Wayne Rooney (53) has scored more goals for the Three Lions. Leader. pic.twitter.com/kFrk5gGFYH

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 26, 2022

Victory looked unlikely for a while, however. The Three Lions found themselves trailing after 22 minutes as Embolo nodded in from Xherdan Shaqiri’s right-wing cross.

It would have been 2-0 a few moments later were it not for Jordan Pickford, whose sharp reflexes ensured Fabian Frei’s goal-bound effort was pushed onto the crossbar.

Ricardo Rodriguez’s long-range strike forced Pickford into action again late in the half, before Embolo scuffed the rebound wide.

England capitalised on those let-offs on the stroke of half-time when Shaw ran on to Conor Gallagher’s cut-back and smashed home from 20 yards.

Shortly after the restart, Kane’s attempted lob from a tight angle came back off goalkeeper Jonas Omlin’s face and debutant Marc Guehi’s glancing header at the resulting corner flew agonisingly wide.

England’s belief grew as the half progressed and Kane made no mistake from the spot late on after Steven Zuber handled Guehi’s header inside the box.
 

What does it mean? Unspectacular England respond after feeble first half 

It was hardly a classic, but England did improve markedly as the match went on.

Although Southgate’s men produced some neat football early on, there was very little substance to it and they hardly threatened at all before Shaw’s equaliser.

They were significantly better after half-time, though, managing four shots on target to Switzerland’s zero. Whether the change in fortunes – for both teams – was caused by mass substitutions or not is unclear, but it was notable how much better the Three Lions were in the second period.

Grealish brings the swagger

He was only on for 28 minutes, but Jack Grealish looked sharp during his cameo. England generally appeared tidier in attack with the Manchester City creator on the pitch, and his two key passes was a joint-team high despite him playing less than a third of the game.

Questions asked of White

It should be said that Ben White was only starting due to a late injury to John Stones in the warm-up, so any shakiness does come with a caveat. However, had it been Harry Maguire who had let Shaqiri’s cross fly over him for the opener, he would have received stinging criticism.

Key Opta Stats:

– England have gone unbeaten in each of their last 21 matches in all competitions (W17 D4), the outright longest ever unbeaten streak in the Three Lions’ history.
– Embolo’s opener was Switzerland’s first goal against England in five matches, since a Tranquillo Barnetta brace in 2011.
– England have only lost one of their last 22 games at Wembley (including home/neutral), winning 18 (D3) and never conceding more than once in any of those matches.
– Kane’s strike was the 100th penalty England have scored in all competitions (excluding shootouts).
– The Tottenham forward has scored 14 of England’s 100 penalties (excluding shootouts), five more than any other Three Lions player (Frank Lampard, 9).
– England fielded three different Crystal Palace (Guehi, Gallagher, Tyrick Mitchell) players in a single match for the first time since June 1991 vs New Zealand (Geoff Thomas, Ian Wright, John Salako).

What’s next?

England host Ivory Coast on Tuesday, with Switzerland facing Kosovo earlier that day. Both teams will then have their eyes on next Friday’s World Cup draw.