West Ham duo Rice and Lingard help England complete perfect international break
Poland's Krzysztof Piatek (left) under pressure from England's Declan Rice during the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifying match at Wembley Stadium, London. Picture date: Wednesday March 31, 2021. - Credit: PA
Declan Rice started and Jesse Lingard appeared as a late substitute as England beat Poland 2-1 at Wembley on Wednesday evening.
The West Ham United pair were in action as Gareth Southgate's side made it three wins out of three in 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying Group I.
Rice started to win his 15th cap for England, while Lingard was introduced as a late substitute to collect his 27th cap.
The 22-year-old Rice impressed again in central midfield, completing 62 of his 66 pass attempts, making five tackles, two clearances and two interceptions.
After winning 5-0 at home to San Marino and 2-0 in Albania, England looked to be on course for another clean sheet when Harry Kane converted from the penalty spot after Raheem Sterling had been fouled.
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However, a defensive error by John Stones was punished by Jakub Moder and it appeared the home side would have to settle for a point.
There was a late twist, though, as Stones headed down Kalvin Phillips' corner and Harry Maguire slammed a shot high into the Poland net for the winner.
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The victory took England onto a maximum nine points from their opening three qualifiers, two ahead of Hungary, three ahead of Albania and five ahead of Poland, who were without the injured Robert Lewandowski, and who named Hammer Łukasz Fabiański among their unused substitutes.
The Irons trio now return to club duty, with West Ham back in Premier League action at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday (April 5) at 8.15pm.
England's next international is a UEFA European Championship warm-up at home to Austria on June 2.
Man of the match Rice said: “It’s incredible. You’ve got lads from all different clubs but when you come here all of that gets put to the side, really, and when you come here everyone has got one objective and one goal and at the moment that’s obviously the summer [and the European Championship finals].
“I think it’s healthy. I think, when you’ve got people competing for spots, everyone wants to start and everyone wants to play, but you feel like when you’re being pushed it makes you raise your game more."
Elsewhere, Frederik Alves was a 78th-minute substitute for Denmark U21s in a 3-0 win over Russia that saw the Danes top Group C and reach the UEFA European Championship quarter-finals.
