Goals from Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins and Bukayo Saka saw England cruise to a 3-0 friendly victory over Wales at Wembley Stadium, London.
Rogers opened the scoring with his third-minute finish from Marc Guehi’s cut-back pass, before Guehi set up England’s second goal with a glancing header which Watkins turned in from close-range at the left post.
Saka wrapped up England’s victory with a 20th-minute curled strike from Ezri Konsa’s short pass, which saw Saka become Arsenal’s highest-scoring England player at senior international level with his 13th goal for the Three Lions.
Rogers post-match in an interview with ITV rated his opener as his favourite moment of his career so far but warned that no player can get “comfortable” within the squad, given the competition for places within the team ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
“Right at the top. It’s a proud moment to do it at home too in a home nation derby. A dream come true.
“The quality of players we have with people here and not here, you can never be too comfortable, or else people will take your role.”
With expectations high after a slick ruthless win away to Serbia in Belgrade last month, England sucked up an immediate Welsh attack and broke forward from which Anthony Gordon fired wide across goal via Karl Darlow’s deflection in the second minute.
Barely a minute later, Tuchel’s Three Lions took the lead from the first corner of the match as Guehi pounced upon a knockdown header, which saw his cut-back pass turned into the far-left corner by Rogers to break the deadlock early.
England continued to pile on the pressure and doubled their lead in the 11th minute after Guehi glanced Rogers’ cross across goal towards the left post, where Watkins was well positioned to flick down and put his shot into the net.
Further misery hit Wales in the 20th minute as a move up the left flank saw Gordon play the ball across to the right where Konsa played forward toward Saka, and the winger calmly cut in to his left with a curled shot into the far-left corner.
Declan Rice put a 28th-minute corner over the top-left corner as England dominated the first half until half time, whilst Watkins was lucky to continue after his left shin struck the left post as he flicked a 40th-minute shot wide from close range.
England manager – Thomas Tuchel however opted to rest Watkins at the break and introduced Marcus Rashford as a second-half substitute, with Harry Kane nursing an ankle injury concern which has left his participation in next week’s trip to Latvia in doubt.
Djed Spence however almost extended England’s lead just 30 seconds into the restart but his shot was deflected away from goal.
England continued to control proceedings and won a 51st minute corner which Rice played short with Konsa in a quick one-two move, before he fed Saka to tee up Rogers but the latter could only put his shot onto the crossbar.
Wales however put up a more resilient second-half performance with little clear-cut chances of note, except for a 55th-minute volley from David Brooks which Jordan Pickford deflected away only for a rebound header to go over the bar to his relief.
England however were able to comfortably see out their victory in another impressive display which justified Tuchel’s decision to again leave Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish out of the squad.
What’s Next?
England resume their 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifying campaign on Tuesday 14 October with a trip to Latvia at 7:45 UK Time.
Wales will be in action 24 hours earlier on Monday 13 October as they host Belgium in Cardiff in a crunch clash for the qualification hopes of both teams.
Teams
England: Jordan Pickford, Ezri Konsa, John Stones (Lewis-Skelly 80′), Marc Guehi, Djed Spence, Elliot Anderson (J.Henderson 69′), Declan Rice (Loftus-Cheek 69′), Bukayo Saka (Bowen 70′), Morgan Rogers (Gibbs-White 70′), Anthony Gordon, Ollie Watkins (Rashford 46′)
Substitutes: Myles Lewis-Skelly, Jordan Henderson, Harry Kane, Eberechi Eze, Marcus Rashford, Dan Burn, Dean Henderson, Morgan Gibbs-White, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Jarrod Bowen, James Trafford, Jarell Quansah, Nico O’Reilly
Wales: Karl Darlow, Neco Williams (Kpakio 64′), Ethan Ampadu (Sheehan 64′), Joe Rodon, Ben Davies (Mepham 64′), Jay Dasilva, David Brooks, Liam Cullen, Harry Wilson (James 64′), Brennan Johnson (Koumas 76′), Kieffer Moore (Harris 76′)
Substitutes: Tom King, Dylan Lawlor, Chris Mepham, Lewis Koumas, Rubin Colwill, Ben Cabango, Jordan James, Mark Harris, Sorba Thomas, Adam Davies, Josh Sheehan, Nathan Broadhead, Ronan Kpakio, Joel Colwill
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