England 1-0 Australia (13 Oct, 2023) Game Analysis - ESPN (UK)

Date of update: October 13, 2023 at 10:35 PM.

On a rainy Friday night at Wembley Stadium, Gareth Southgate's experimental team had to work hard for a 1-0 victory over Australia in a friendly match. Ollie Watkins, who had not played for the national team in a while, scored the winning goal in the second half.

Ahead of an important Euro 2024 qualifying match against Italy, the England manager decided to give some of his regular players a break and instead allow younger squad members to play and gain experience. This move was made in order to ensure that the first team is well rested and prepared for the upcoming match.

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Out of the group who initially played, just three of them had played over 10 matches for their national team. Furthermore, there were 10 adjustments made to the lineup from the previous game, which was against Scotland and had resulted in a 3-1 victory for England. One of the new additions was defender Levi Colwill from the team Chelsea, who made his first appearance for England.

Watkins made a comeback to the game after being away for a year. He scored a goal in the 57th minute by sliding the ball into the far post after Jack Grealish shot the ball in the direction of the goal.

The Aston Villa striker scored his third goal for the England team, and the second goal in two consecutive matches after a gap of 563 days in between.

Watkins declared to Channel Four TV that he had been anticipating the upcoming call up for a while and was determined not to miss out on the chance.

The match was difficult. Many of us were strangers and had never played with each other before. We managed to score a goal and hold on to it until the end. Clearly, there are many areas that require improvement and attention.

Southgate made some changes during the second half of the game against a team that was quite close to scoring in the first half. Watkins was substituted for Nketiah, who was making his debut, in the 73rd minute among a series of substitutions.

England only played their second friendly game since March 2020, and it was also the first ever men's soccer match at Wembley stadium to be officiated by a woman. Stephanie Frappart from France was the referee in charge.

The game lacked excitement while the England team experimented with their lineup, but they appeared disorganized and open to attack despite having control of the ball.

In the first half of the match, Watkins had the greatest opportunity for England. He managed to bypass the goalkeeper Mat Ryan in the thirty-third minute. However, his attempt to score into the distant corner of the goal was unsuccessful as the ball hit the post and bounced back.

At minute eight, England failed to seize an opportunity wherein Conor Gallagher delivered a pass close to the sideline, but James Maddison and Watkins were unable to connect with it.

The home team had to wait almost half an hour before earning their initial corner, while there was a good chance for Australia to score and get ahead.

Sam Johnstone from England made a spectacular save diving across the goalpost to prevent a shot from Keanu Baccus in the 11th minute of the game. Lewis Dunk came through with a crucial block in the 44th minute, coming to the rescue of the keeper who was about to concede a goal from Ryan Strain. This helped them maintain their clean sheet and made a significant contribution to their team's performance.

With only 10 minutes left on the clock, Connor Metcalfe of team Australia had a chance to tie the game when he launched a header from a corner towards the goal post but unfortunately it hit the post instead of going into the net.

Southgate secured his 55th victory as the manager of the English national team.

Both squads were donning black armbands, while a moment of quiet was observed for those affected by the ongoing dispute between Israel and Palestine.

On Thursday, the government criticized the Football Association for choosing not to illuminate the stadium's arch in blue and white as a sign of support for Israel in response to the recent attacks by Hamas.