England celebrate Kane’s historic night with comfortable 3-0 win at Wembley
Harry Kane marked his record-equalling 125th England appearance with two goals as the Three Lions comfortably defeated the Czech Republic 3-0 at Wembley in the UEFA Nations League.
The captain drew level with Peter Shilton as England’s most-capped player and took his international scoring tally to 91, helping Thomas Tuchel’s side maintain their pursuit of Spain at the top of Group A3.
Match highlight
England began purposefully, with Trent Alexander-Arnold testing Lukas Hornicek from a free-kick around 30 metres out. The goalkeeper reacted well to push the effort around the post.
The Czech Republic offered a warning shortly afterwards when Alex Kral was afforded too much space near the edge of the penalty area, but his shot struck the side-netting.
The visitors defended resolutely through the opening 25 minutes before an unfortunate intervention broke their resistance. Kane drove a dangerous ball across the six-yard box, and Vladimir Coufal diverted it into his own net.
Elliot Anderson subsequently squandered a close-range opportunity by shooting over, but he helped create England’s second before half-time.
His excellent 30-yard pass found Morgan Rogers, who squared for Kane to finish and register his 90th international goal on an already historic evening.
Kane nearly added another inside 10 minutes of the restart. Following impressive midfield play from Myles Lewis-Skelly, the Bayern Munich striker received possession near the edge of the box and struck the crossbar.
He did not have to wait much longer for goal number 91. Lewis Hall delivered an inswinging corner towards the far post, where Kane rose highest to head home and put the result beyond doubt.
With England firmly in control, Tuchel used the closing stages to make changes, introducing Rio Ngumoha for his debut before withdrawing Kane to a rapturous reception from the Wembley crowd.
The captain now stands nine goals short of becoming the first England player to reach a century of international strikes.
He could also move clear of Shilton’s appearance record when England host Croatia at Wembley in November, a fixture that may offer the opportunity to secure a Nations League quarter-final place.
For the Czech Republic, a fifth consecutive defeat compounded a difficult campaign. They remain bottom of Group A3 and face an increasingly precarious fight to avoid automatic relegation to League B.
