England 4 Iceland 0 – Late Foden double strike sinks Iceland in dead rubber encounter; England youngsters impress Updated for April 2024

Updated: 13 September

UEFA Nations League Group A2 report – England vs. Iceland – Wednesday, 18 November 2020 – Matchday 6 of 6

England 4 Iceland 0

Phil Foden scored twice as a young English side trounced Iceland 4-0 in a dead rubber fixture of Group A2 at the Wembley on November 18th night. England's hopes of reaching the finals having ended, coach Gareth Southgate fielded a side with a lot of young talent who found an opportunity to show off their wares against the Icelanders.

The Three Lions took only 20 minutes to come on the scoreboard when Declan Rice headed in from a Foden cross to beating rival goalkeeper Ogmundur Kristinsson.

Mason Mount doubled England's lead, displaying some deft footwork to finish from close range in the 24th.

Going 0-2 down into the interval, Iceland further shot themselves in the foot when defender Birkir Saevarsson was shown a second yellow card for dragging back Bukayo Saka and sent off in the 54th minute.

The hosts were all over the 10-men Icelanders after that, as they hogged nearly four-fifths of the possession. Twenty-year old Man City midfielder Phil Foden left out of England's initial four games owing to a violation, showed his immense talent when he added to the Three Lions lead in the 88th minute.

Borussia Dortmund's Jadon Sancho then combined with Arsenal's Saka to assist in Foden's second as the City forward let loose a long-range strike that beat substitute Iceland goalie Hannes Halldorsson with just 6 minutes to go for the final whistle.

With stalwarts Jordan Henderson, Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling not around, it was for the likes of Foden, Aston Villa's Jack Grealish and Arsenal's teenage defender Bukayo Saka to impress Southgate for places in next summer's European Championship and truly did they shine.

Apart from Foden, Saka was another stand-out performer, adept at both defence and attack. He could have had goals for himself on Wednesday night but did enough to prove that he will be a serious contender for a starting place in future.

England line-up:

Pickford (goal); Walker (Mings 64), Maguire, Dier; Trippier (Maitland-Niles 85), Mount, Rice, Foden, Saka; Kane (Abraham 76), Grealish (Sancho 76)

Iceland line-up:

Kristinsson (Halldórsson 46) (goal); B Sævarsson, Ingason, Árnason, Hermannsson; Sigurjónsson (Eyjólfsson 62), B Bjarnason (Jóhannesson 88), Pálsson, A Skúlason; Guðmundsson (Sigthórsson 73), Bödvarsson (Þorsteinsson 73)

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