By Goal.com News on Wednesday, 18 November 2020
Category: Goal.com News

LIVE: England vs Iceland

9' Dier goes for the direct approach again, almost setting his former Tottenham teammate Trippier free down the right with a crossfield ball. Trippier had just strayed offside though.

8' Iceland's corner comes to nothing due to a foul in the penalty area. England have a free-kick.

7' Kristinsson comes way out of his area to punt clear under pressure from Grealish. It turns into quite a nice pass for Bodvarsson who forces Maguire to put the ball out for an Iceland corner.

5' Saevarsson gets forward to cross from the right and Pickford rushes out to punch clear, not entirely convincingly. Up the other end, Mount slides a pass to Saka whose first-time cross is parried by Kristinsson. Saka is offside anyway.

4' English still have possession. Grealish - England's start against Belgium - darts inside from the left and finds Mount in the box. Mount shoots but a deflection takes the sting out of it, allowing Kristinsson to easily collect it.

3' Foden slips a pass towards Mount who drifts into a wide right position. The Chelsea man succeeds in winning the first corner of the game for England, which Iceland clear.

2' England knock the ball around early on, trying to work their way through Iceland's boxy 4-4-2. Dier steps out from the back and fires a direct pass towards Foden but it's intercepted.

1' The referee blows his whistle and England get this game under way!

The two sides are out on the Wembley pitch and give a minute's applause for the late England goalkeeper Ray Clemence. Contrary to pre-match reports, it looks like Iceland may well be playing their usual 4-4-2 with Bodvarsson and Gudmundsson up front.

This will be England's fifth ever meeting with Iceland, with the Three Lions stealing a 1-0 away win back in September. The hosts won their only previous home clash with Iceland back in June 2004 - a 6-1 friendly win at Manchester's Etihad Stadium - and should win again here. After all, Iceland have lost their last three away games. But will the underdogs catch England cold?

England name four players aged 21 or younger (Saka, Foden, Rice, Mount) in the starting 11 of a competitive fixture for the first time since November 1959. They make three changes from their defeat to Belgium as Saka, Foden and Maguire come in. There are five changes to Iceland's team after their late 2-1 loss to Denmark last time out. 

SUBS: Isak Johannesson, Alfons Sampsted, Hannes Halldorsson, Holmar Orn Eyjolfsson, Runar Alex Runarsson, Kolbeinn Sigthorsson, Sveinn Gudjohnsen, Andri Fannar Baldursson, Arnor Ingvi Traustason, Arnor Sigurdsson.

ICELAND (3-4-3): Ogmundur Kristinsson; Sverrir Ingason, Kari Arnason (c), Hjortur Hermannsson; Birkir Mar Saevarsson, Victor Palsson, Birkir Bjarnason, Ari Freyr Skulason; Runar Mar Sigurjonsson, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, Albert Gudmundsson.

SUBS: Jude Bellingham, Harry Winks, Dean Henderson, Jadon Sancho, Ben Chilwell, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Nick Pope, Tyrone Mings, Michael Keane, Tammy Abraham, Ainsley Maitland-Niles.

ENGLAND (3-4-3): Jordan Pickford; Kyle Walker, Eric Dier, Harry Maguire; Kieran Trippier, Declan Rice, Mason Mount, Bukayo Saka; Phil Foden, Harry Kane (c), Jack Grealish.

Iceland have nothing to play for either with their relegation from League A already confirmed. Iceland are the only side to have lost 100 per cent of their Nations League games and are a shadow of the team that beat England at Euro 2016. A result here for them would be the undisputed highlight of what has been a miserable campaign.

In a year pretty much written off by a global pandemic, it's somewhat fitting that England's last game in 2020 is a dead rubber. Gareth Southgate's men played fairly well against Belgium but couldn't prevent a 2-0 defeat that ended their hopes of reaching the Nations League finals.

Hello! Welcome to our live text commentary of this UEFA Nations League Group A2 match between England and Iceland at Wembley Stadium, London.

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