England 1-0 Australia
A second half goal from Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins was enough to give England the narrowest of wins over a spirited Australia at a rain-soaked Wembley Stadium.
For any neutral watching this International Friendly: England vs Australia, it was a wake up call for the Three Lions; certainly in the first half as the Socceroos gave Gareth Southgate’s team a real run-around. The England boss had brought in some fringe players, but he has a deep squad and will be a little concerned how difficult they found it to break down Australia.
The over-riding emotion will be once of relief for the Three Lions who don’t need any humiliations as they build up to Euro 2024.
Highlights of the game
Without the injured Bukayo Saka, who has been in scintillating form, Southgate gave a start to Conor Gallagher and the Chelsea man almost created a goal on eight minutes when he fired a killer ball across the six yard area, but neither Ollie Watkins nor James Maddison could get a touch. England realised they were in a game when the next goalmouth action saw keeper Sam Johnstone scrambling to keep out a deflected shot from Australia’s Keanu Baccus. And then, minutes later Mitchell Duke came so close with a volley which beat Johnstone and narrowly flew past the post.
Ollie Watkins, on his second England start, came the closest to breaking the deadlock before the break when he was put through by James Maddison who slid in a perfectly weighted ball. The Aston Villa man looked for all the world like he was about to score but his rolled shot bounced back off the upright.
Brighton defender Lewis Dunk made a brilliant block to deny Aussie fullback Ryan Strain on the stroke of half time and the two teams went in level.
The first half England vs Australia highlights showed how fit the Aussie team is, they ran the socks of everyone at the World Cup in Qatar, where they reached the Round of 16 and the Socceroos had every right to feel happy with their performance in the first 45.
The Three Lions, having been outplayed for much of the first half had their breakthrough, early in the second, and it was a lovely goal to lift the soggy crowd at Wembley Stadium. Trent Alexander-Arnold sent over a brilliant deep ball which Jack Grealish fired back across the box and Watkins was there to slide the ball home from point black range. It was his first cap since 2022 and the Villa man was clearly delighted to score a poachers goal which will keep him in Southgate’s mind.
That goal seemed to settle England down and both Watkins and Trent came close but both saw their shots deflected away, and again Maddison was inches away from poking home a cross from Jarrod Bowen. But the Socceroos were still game and Connor Metcalf saw his header hit the post but the flag went up for an infringement. Australia had another corner and Johnstone was forced into a save to preserve England’s narrow win.
Key statistics
The England vs Australia betting odds predicted a slaughter for the Aussies, but by half time we all started to wonder. The England team looked disjointed and, despite dominating possession, they only managed three shots, with just one on target, while the Socceroos had seven shots and three on target.
The second half wasn’t great for the hosts and they continued to labour. Australia are a very decent side but they probably didn’t expect to win the final shot counts by 14 to nine and four the three on target. But the one moment of real quality won the game for England and was enough to win the game.
What’s next?
England are on the brink of qualification for Euro 2024 in Germany, a recent clash with Ukraine yielded just a point in a 1-1 draw so there is still a bit of work to do for Southgate’s men. Next up, the Three Lions are back at the Wembley Stadium to face Italy on Tuesday. Take a look at the SBOTOP odds for that one…coming soon. The Azzurri host Malta on Saturday and the Italians should pick up a comfortable win to set the meeting with England up nicely.
The Socceroos are sticking around in London too and next up they head to the Gtech Community Stadium in Brentford where they will meet New Zealand. Om this showing they can take a lot of heart and I expect them to beat the Kiwis.
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