March 30, (THEWILL) – England extended their unbeaten streak to nine games on Tuesday with a 3-0 triumph over ten-man Ivory Coast at Wembley Stadium.
Even before Serge Aurier’s departure, Gareth Southgate’s rotating team was well in control, making short work of a side who caused world champions France many of issues last Friday.
After a quarter-hour of football, England’s first real chance came when Jude Bellingham played a nice one-two with Raheem Sterling to set himself up for goal, but his strike was deflected onto the post by goalkeeper Badra Ali Sangare.
The ball was subsequently passed to Tyrick Mitchell, whose cross through the six-yard box just eluded Ollie Watkins.
Sangare saved a shot from Jack Grealish, whose great wing play helped set up Bellingham’s effort, and Sterling had a volley blocked by Simon Deli following a nice clipped ball over the top from Ben White.
After 30 minutes, Sterling beat Serge Aurier with a few step-overs before passing the ball across goal for Watkins to tap in.
Declan Rice’s free header following a free-kick by James Ward-Prowse went straight down Sangare’s position, while Bellingham’s looping drive sailed just wide.
Just before halftime, Ivory Coast captain, Aurier, received a second booking for dissent after not having a foul called in the buildup to Bellingham’s effort, reducing the visitors to ten men. Surprisingly, after playing numerous games at Wembley with Tottenham, this was Aurier’s first red card there.
Sterling extended England’s lead at the end of the first half, meeting Grealish’s cut-back after the Three Lions captain’s original attempt was blocked acrobatically by Sangare.
Southgate’s team were given a penalty soon after the restart when replacement Fousseny Koulibaly tripped Bellingham, but the decision was reversed after a long VAR review because he got the the ball before the opponent.
England pressed for a third goal, with Ward-Prowse scraping the top of the crossbar, while Deli squandered Ivory Coast’s greatest chance of the evening, volleying over from a free-kick deep into the penalty area.
Tyrone Mings capped off a straightforward victory with a header deep into stoppage time.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
