The encouraging news for England is that Harry Kane is looking sharp, Raheem Sterling seems remarkably unaffected by all the recent scrutiny and, if Gareth Southgate’s team can play in the World Cup as they did here during the opening 45 minutes, perhaps it is not too outlandish to think they can make a decent impression in Russia after all.
Unfortunately that tells only part of the story and with England there always seems to be a cloud attached to every silver lining. Two-nil ahead at half-time, Southgate’s team looked on course to bid farewell to Wembley in style. As it was, the England manager must have been startled by their deterioration as Nigeria, such obliging opponents throughout the opening 45 minutes, pulled one back through Alex Iwobi and had enough of the ball thereafter to think they could have saved themselves.
Written by Daniel Taylor at Wembley
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jun/02/england-nigeria-match-report under the title “England blow hot and cold against Nigeria after Gary Cahill’s quick start”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
