England 3 Ivory Coast 0 LIVE REACTION: Watkins, Sterling & Mings bag for Three Lions on comfortable Wembley evening
ENGLAND finished the international break with a 3-0 win over Ivory Coast at Wembley.
Ollie Watkins, Raheem Sterling and Tyrone Mings scored for Gareth Southgate's side, who won't now link up until the Nations League in the summer.
- RESULT: England 3-0 Ivory Coast
- TV/Live stream: Sky Sports Main Event
- England XI: Pope, Mitchell, White, Mings, Maguire, Ward-Prowse, Rice, Bellingham, Sterling, Watkins, Grealish
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England 0-0 Ivory Coast
21. Mings and Maguire exchange some passes among themselves at the back to get a feel of the ball.
The Manchester United defender's name was booed by some inside Wembley when his name was read out before kick-off which only goes to prove the old adage that you're never far from a complete idiot at an England game.
England 0-0 Ivory Coast
19. Grealish gets into an advanced area but finds his route to goal smothered by two defenders and the goalkeeper.
It must be like being back at Villa.
England 0-0 Ivory Coast
17. Finally, Ivory Coast compose themselves and get into the England final third for the first time.
They even win a corner, but waste it immediately by playing it short and then back to Gradel, who is offside.
England 0-0 Ivory Coast - Bellingham hits the post!
15. So close to the opener!
It's lovely build-up play from England that sees Bellingham flick a backheel into Sterling, who immediately returns it to send the Dortmund teenager through on goal.
Coming in from the left, Bellingham tries to beat Sangare at the near post, only for the goalkeeper to flick it on to the woodwork.
Mitchell keeps the chance alive, and fires a low cross towards the back stick where Watkins is sliding in - just agonisingly late.
England 0-0 Ivory Coast
14. Sterling is taken out by Deli again. The England captain is a marked man tonight.
England 0-0 Ivory Coast
12. The corner comes to nothing, but England immediately keep the pressure on their opponents.
Ivory Coast are struggling to get out of their own half at the moment.
England 0-0 Ivory Coast
11. Sterling wins a free-kick on the right touchline, and when you've got Ward-Prowse in your team, that presents an opportunity.
The Saints captain doesn't disappoint either, pinging in a beauty for Mings, only for a Ivory Coast head to get there ahead of the centre-back.
It brings the game's first corner for the hosts.
England 0-0 Ivory Coast
10. Grealish gets on the ball, dribbles away from goal, and the Wembley crowd get very excited.
It's like the summer of 2021 all over again.
England 0-0 Ivory Coast
8. England enjoy a spell of pressure, but it ends with another stoppage in play.
This time it's Sterling that's gone down, and his concern appears muscular more than an impact injury.
The captain heads to the touchline for some further treatment.
England 0-0 Ivory Coast
6. Gradel is nursing himself now after being caught by White in a very similar fashion to the earlier incident between Watkins and Deli.
Only this time the former Leeds man was caught in a much more...sensitive area.
England 0-0 Ivory Coast
5. Bellingham steps out of midfield and releases Watkins for the first time.
The Villa man looks in on goal, until a tremendous recovery from Aurier stops him in his track.
In the end it didn't matter with the linesman's flag up for offside.
England 0-0 Ivory Coast
2. There are barely 60 seconds on the clock, and Watkins finds himself on the end of a sore one from Deli.
The Ivory Coast defender cleared down the line, but followed through with force and caught the England striker on the knee with his studs.
Watkins is in pain, but thankfully looks as though he can continue. That would have been awful way for his first international start to end.
Kick-off - England v Ivory Coast
1. The game is a slightly delayed in kicking off because Serge Aurier was as late to arrive in the tunnel as he used to be for challenges inside the penalty area.
Eager to catch up, England jump the gun and start too quickly for the Belgian referee's liking. At the second time of asking, the hosts kick-off correctly and get us underway.
Here come the two teams!
The pitch has been heavily watered, the light show has finished, now it's time for some football.
Raheem Sterling and Serge Aurier lead their respective sides out to the first roar of the night, and line up for the national anthems.
It may be a friendly, but for this much changed England side, the next 90 minutes represent an opportunity to make their mark on the international stage at the start of a World Cup year.
Ivory Coast become the 85th different country that England have faced in their history, and it looks set to be another intriguing test.
Kick-off is moments away.
Captain Sterling a quiet leader
Gareth Southgate believes that this evening's England captain Raheem Sterling may not be the loudest on the pitch, but is superb role model off of it.
When asked whether Sterling deserved recognition for his role within the squad, the England boss replied in emphatic fashion:
Without a doubt. He's the most senior player in the starting line-up. He's a quiet leader. He's exceptional at making the new players feel welcome, and it's a quality that wouldn't be noticed outside the camp.
Gareth Southgate
Southgate defends Maguire call-up
Harry Maguire is back in the England team this evening after receiving a timely confidence boost from the national manager.
Gareth Southgate leapt to the defence of the centre-back yesterday when asked whether he is deserving of a place in the current England squad given his indifferent form for Manchester United.
The Three Lions boss indicated that he had no hesitation in selecting the 29-year-old, and said: “[Harry Maguire] has got us to a World Cup semi-final and a European Championship final so there’s no doubt he’s more than capable of playing at the highest level.
“He was also very good for us in the autumn. [Manchester United] are in a difficult moment, and there could be any number of reasons for that."
No Three Lions reunion for Zaha
Wilfried Zaha's absence for this evening's fixture has denied football statisticians one of their quirkier lines.
Had he featured, the Crystal Palace star would have become only the third player to have played both for England and against them.
Zaha made two friendly appearances for the Three Lions a decade ago, but requested special dispensation from FIFA to switch his allegiance in 2016.
Jack Reynolds won eight caps for England in the 19th century having previously played for Ireland, while Bobby Evans featured four times for the Three Lions after playing for Wales between 1906 and 1910.
Wilfried Zaha playing for England against Scotland in 2013. Boly among Ivory Coast substitutes
1 Cisse, 16 Kone, 2 Diallo, 3 Konan, 5 Agbadou, 6 Boly, 10 Kouassi, 12 Coulibaly, 18 Sangare, 20 Akoukou, 25 Konate, 28 Boli
Pepe starts for Ivory Coast
...but there's no place in the squad for Wilfried Zaha.
However, Hassane Kamara, Eric Bailly and Max Cornet all play their football in the Premier League; Jean-Michel Seri is bossing the Championship with Fulham.
Striker Sebastian Haller is familiar to Declan Rice following his time at West Ham while Spurs fan will remember captain Serge Aurier with a mixture of fondness and fear.
It's also a 4-3-3 shape for Patrice Beaumelle's team, and they will be marshalled in midfield by Franck Kessie, a man expected to join Barcelona in the summer.
23 Sangare; 27 Deli, 17 Aurier, 21 Bailly, 14 Kamara; 11 Cornet, 8 Kessie, 4 Seri; 19 Pepe, 22 Haller, 15 Gradel
On the Three Lions bench
13 Forster, 22 Pickford, 12 Shaw, 14 Henderson, 15 Guehi, 16 Coady, 17 Walker-Peters, 18 Foden, 19 Mount, 20 Kane, 21 Gallagher, 23 Smith-Rowe
Sterling captains the England side
Gareth Southgate makes ten changes to the side that started against the Swiss on Saturday.
Only Arsenal's Ben White - drafted in late for John Stones at the weekend - keeps his place, and begins at right-back in a flat back four.
There's a first start at left-back for Tyrick Mitchell while Harry Maguire returns to the team.
Nick Pope is selected in goal, Declan Rice holds in midfield, and Ollie Watkins plays up top in a 4-3-3 formation.
1 Pope; 2 White, 5 Mings, 6 Maguire, 3 Mitchell; 10 Bellingham, 4 Rice, 8 Ward-Prowse; 7 Sterling, 9 Watkins, 11 Grealish
Hosts favourites for another win
England have won their last nine home friendlies so it's no surprise to discover that the bookies have them chalked up at odds-on for another victory.
- England win 40/85
- Draw 3/1
- Ivory Coast win 11/2
correct at the time of post publication.
Heading back down Wembley Way
Good evening and welcome to SunSport's live coverage of Tuesday's international friendly between England and Ivory Coast.
Just three days after the Three Lions came from behind to see off Switzerland, Gareth Southgate's men are back in action at the national stadium for what promises to be a momentous night.
Ivory Coast arrive to take on England for a first ever meeting between the countries, and come armed with a squad full of Premier League stars.
Kick-off is at 7.45pm, and team news is on the way.
