David Hytner’s match report has dropped, so I’m going to wrap this blog up. Thanks for your company and emails – goodnight.
Steven Gerrard on Jude Bellingham
Listen, let me tell you right now that you’re a lot further ahead than I was at your age. [When asked to elaborate] For one he’s got a better body than I had at 19! No, seriously, I didn’t have that power and strength until 22/23. He’s more confident than me on the ball, and I’m not being modest – that’s the truth. He’s further on than I was at 19. Don’t get me wrong, I got to where I wanted to, and he’ll naturally get where he wants to if he carries on doing what he’s doing.
More from Jude Bellingham
I’m loving [playing for England] at the minute. It feels like we’ve got a really good atmosphere in the changing-room and I think that shows on the pitch as well. We all want to express ourselves but we’ve got a bit of nastiness in us as well – you look at the likes of Hendo, Dec, and I think myself as well. It’s important we cover all sides of the game.
[On the England captaincy] That would be the biggest dream; it’s the biggest honour in football. At the minute there’s a long pecking order that I highly respect. I’ll wait my turn and in the meantime it’s all about picking up what I can from those guys in terms of leadership.
[On his role models, with Steven Gerrard standing next to him] You’ve stitched me there! I’m nervous now… but yeah, the things that Stevie could do, the way he could single-handedly win a game and do everything as a midfielder… I’ve said it multiple times that I’ve looked up to you.
Jude Bellingham speaks
It was important that we followed up a really good result in Italy with another win tonight. When you do that it feels rewarding, because it’s a short camp, short turnaround, and you have to take in information really quickly. The boys did that well.
There’s still so much I’ve still got to learn. The way I want to be as a midfielder is someone who can win you the game at both ends of the pitch and dominate the ball in the middle – I’ve always wanted to be somebody who does it a bit of everything. But you have the best chance with the guys in that changing-room and at Dortmund. I’m like a sponge at the minute. Any chance I get to learn about the game, I’m all in.
At Dortmund I’m involved in the build up a lot more. I enjoy that as well but it means I can’t be as creative in the top third. I feel like I’m getting a sense of where the ball’s gonna land, and to be honest I think I could have done that a little bit better today. I felt I was a yard or two away from where I needed to be. But it’s all experience.
Full time: England 2-0 Ukraine
A very comfortable win for England, who have made the perfect start to their qualification campaign. The match was over when England scored two in three minutes shortly before half-time: Bukayo Saka made the first for Harry Kane before flashing a brilliant second into the top corner.
It’s up to you whether you pass it on, but England are very, very good at football.
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90+2 min Jordan Henderson has quietly had a very good game today, particularly with his delivery from wide positions in open play and at set pieces.
90+2 min Toney wins the ball on the halfway line and England break four on two. Gallagher finds Grealish to his left, not necessarily the best option, and his shot is pushed away by the diving Trubin.
90+1 min Henderson’s deep corner is headed onto the roof of the net by Maguire. That was an excellent chance, certainly for him.
90 min: Ukraine substitution Ievgenii Konoplianka replaces Taras Stepanenko.
88 min Chilwell’s deep, outswinging corner is headed back into a dangerous area by Maguire, but Grealish can’t quite reach the bouncing ball on the stretch. Had he done so, he would probably have scored.
87 min Gallagher almost scores straight away! Chilwell charged into the area for the umpteenth time tonight and slid the ball back to Gallagher, who shot too close to Trubin from about 10 yards.
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86 min: England substitutions Jack Grealish and Conor Gallagher replace James Maddison, who had a good but slightly frustrating full debut, and the increasingly majestic Jude Bellingham.
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83 min Toney wins his first header and finds Saka. He fires a sharp pass into Maddison, 10 yards out, but he can’t control it. It was an awkward ball to take.
81 min: England substitution: Ivan Toney for Harry Kane A lovely moment for Ivan Toney, and for one particular bus stop in Hounslow. Toney joins the long list of England players under Gareth Southgate, Kane included, who did the sour metres in the lower leagues before making it big. He’s also the first Brentford player to appear for England since 1939.
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79 min Ivan Toney is getting ready to make his England debut.
78 min England’s attempt at a 74-pass goal ends when Walker’s driven pass is headed up in the air.
77 min After a long spell of England possession inside their own half, Maddison spreads the play with a good pass to Saka. He runs 40 yards before England slow things down again. They’ve had the ball for at least 60 seconds now.
74 min: Ukraine substitution Artem Dovbyk replaces Roman Yaremchuk.
73 min England appeal for a penalty when Saka’s clip round the corner hits a Ukraine defender. The referee points to his chest, not the spot. Moments later, after a nice pass from Maddison, Bellingham’s cross is crucially cleared inside the six-yard box.
71 min Maddison touches the free-kick off to Saka, who curls high and wide this time. Oh, Bukayo.
69 min Saka wriggles away from Malinovskyi on the right and is fouled just outside the area. Malinovskyi is booked.
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69 min The second half has been a bit of a non-event.
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66 min Maddison dances thrillingly through midfield, but then he overhits an admittedly awkward through ball to Saka.
64 min England are managing this game well, so much so that Jordan Pickford still hasn’t had a save to make.
62 min: Ukraine substitutions Vitaliy Buyalskiy, Viktor Tsykankov and Eduard Sobol replace Oleksandr Karavaev, Vitaliy Mykolenko and Mykhailo Mudryk.
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60 min Zinchenko clips an excellent pass into Mudryk on the edge of the area. He turns onto his right foot but is immediately crowded out.
59 min “Regarding Venables and his subs during Euro 96, it always amazed me that he didn’t make any during the semifinal against Germany,” says Michal Pac Pomarnacki. “Any suggestions why? He had plenty options of the bench namely Fowler and Ferdinand…”
Well the first period was so breathlessly dramatic, one of the great periods of extra-time, that I doubt there was any time to think. I might have brought Fowler on for Sheringham in the second period, which was relatively quiet, as Fowler was at his absolute peak. That said, the substitutes (Fowler, Stone and one other, Barmby?) didn’t do much against Spain from memory, so I’ve always thought of it as a reasonable decision rather than a mistake.
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58 min Walker plays in the overlapping Saka, who hammers a low right-footed cross into the middle. It’s too quick for Bellingham, who can’t adjust his feet and screws the ball further across the area. Actually, replays show there was a slight from a Ukraine player nearby, so I did Bellingham a disservice.
56 min A decent spell for Ukraine, with some good possession in England’s half. England look comfortable enough though.
52 min “Harry Kane’s goal,” says Dave Manby. “Does anyone else think it was an own goal?”
I thought Karavaev poked it against Kane before it ricocheted into the net, which would make it Kane’s goal. But my eyesight isn’t what it was, and I’ve been wearing glasses since the age of four.
AND HARRY KANE DOES IT AGAIN 🔥 #C4Football | #ThreeLions | #ENGUKR pic.twitter.com/RpCcXZ6UP2
— Channel 4 Sport (@C4Sport) March 26, 2023
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51 min Maddison loses Yaremchuk with a lovely turn 22 yards from goal, but then he gets a bit carried away – understandable in the circumstances – and smashes a rising shot wide of the near post.
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50 min England’s next qualifiers are in June: Malta away and North Macedonia at home. If it stays like this they will already be in a superb position to qualify for the Euros.
47 min Bellingham beats two players quite brilliantly in a very tight area, the first by playing a wall-pass with himself, the second with a nutmeg. His power is so eye-catching that it’s easy to forget how deft he is as well. Somebody is going to get extremely lucky this summer, even if it costs £150m.
47 min “I always think of Netherlands’ numbering, which goes across the back four with 2, 3, 4, 5 from right to left,” says Daniel Harris. “The midfield then has a 6, 8 and a 10, with 7, 9, 11 in attack. I think that’s where our positional references come from.”
46 min Peep peep! The second half is under way.
What makes Bukayo Saka so good? The obvious answer is ‘everything’. But for a player who is so stylish and watchable, his greatest quality might be a quietly devastating efficiency. Even his goal and assist today – both extremely hard things to do – were made to look almost routine.
For a young attacking player, the final frontier is to develop from fantasy footballer to Fantasy Footballer, one who deals in the hard currency of goals and assists rather than YouTube reels. Few 21-year-olds do it as well as Saka.
Never mind Bukayo Saka, let’s get back to shirt numbers
“The conventional numbering systems come from the gradual change from 2-3-5 to 4-4-2,” writes Thom Scott-Phillips. “Numbers first appeared on shirts when 2-3-5 was common, so the two fullbacks were 2 and 3, three halfbacks were 4, 5 and 6, and the front five were 7-11, numbering from one wing to the other.
“Then the change. The middle of halfbacks, the 5, was moved back, along with one of the other two: either the 4 or the 6. The other stays in midfield. Meanwhile one of the inside forwards, either the 8 or the 10, moves back into the midfield, while the other sits just off the centre forward, who is 9.
“Now you have your classic 4-4-2 numbering: 2 and 3 as fullbacks; 5 and either 4 or 6 at centre back; a midfield pairing one of 4 and 6 with one of 8 or 10; 7 and 11 as wide players; 9 as centre forward with either 8 or 10 sitting off them.
“For the era, that Liverpool side were very unconventional with their numbering.”
Half time: England 2-0 Ukraine
England are in control thanks to two moments of brilliance from Bukayo Saka. His unplayable cross led to Harry Kane’s opening goal, and three minutes later he flashed a 20-yard curler into the top corner as if it was the easiest and most obvious thing in the world.
45 min Three minutes of added time.
44 min As my sometime colleague Steve Bradfield points out, there was a Messiesque inevitability to that Saka goal – he basically passed the ball into the top corner, at pace, from 20 yards.
43 min Mudryk pings well wide from distance. England have kept Ukraine’s attackers very quiet.
42 min Suddenly England are rampant. Bellingham stretches to intercept a pass, 30 yards from goal, and immediately shovels it through to Kane in the inside-right channel. He smashes a low shot from 15 yards that is well saved by the falling Trubin.
What a fantastic goal! Henderson rolled a simple pass towards Saka, who was 20 yards out, back to goal and with Matviyenko tight against him. Too tight, in fact: Saka rolled him with ease, moved infield and flashed a curling shot into the far top corner. Brilliant.
GOAL! England 2-0 Ukraine (Saka 40)
Bukayo Saka is going to be a superstar!
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39 min That was a slightly odd goal. At first it looked like a routine finish from Kane, but I’m almost certain Karavaev knocked the ball against him. Either way, it was a devilish cross from the increasingly unplayable Bukayo Saka.
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Harry Kane extends his England record, though he didn’t know that much about it. He started the move himself by booming a crossfield pass out to Saka on the right. Saka moved to the edge of the area, teased Mudryk and curled a wicked inswinging cross towards the far post.
Kane fought for the ball with Karavaev, who got there first and tried to poke it behind for a corner. Instead the ball hit the leg of Kane, who was in the act of shooting himself, and flew past Trubin.
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GOAL! England 1-0 Ukraine (Kane 37)
54+1 = 55.
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36 min Maddison leads a promising four on four break. The ball gets slightly stuck under his feet – this pitch isn’t great – before he eventually gives it to Saka. His cross is half cleared, then Maddison had a shot blocked, then so does Henderson. The last block was the best one.
35 min Maddison has been… okay so far, no more or less. In that regard, he is perfectly in tune with his teammates.
34 min Maddison heads Henderson’s cross straight at Trubin from eight yards, but again it wouldn’t have counted as he was offside.
34 min Derrick Cameron writes in to remind us about Ivan Zamorano wearing No18 at Inter: 1+8 = 9, which had been claimed by some no-mark.
33 min Mudryk shows scary pace in the inside-left channel before his cutback is well read at the near post by Maguire. No matter: Yaremchuk was offside earlier in the move.
31 min “Zerouali was a ray of sunshine during a particularly bleak period of Scottish football outside the Old Firm,” says Matt Thomas. “ Was worth the entrance fee. Which admittedly with student discount wasn’t much. Rest in peace Hicham.”
Bloody hell I had no idea he died so young,
30 min Another chance for Kane, who pokes a bouncing ball over the bar after a quick free-kick from Maddison. This time he was definitely offside, though, so it wouldn’t have counted.
28 min Kane might have been fractionally offside when he missed that chance.
27 min England are starting to pin Ukraine back. They haven’t created many clear chances, mind, and could use a bit more wit in the centre of the field.
25 min: Chance for Kane! Henderson, in a typical inside-right position, flips a first-time cross towards the far post. Kane, bizarrely unmarked, misses an attempted flying volley with his left foot. The ball runs beyond the far post to Bellingham, whose fierce low cross ricochets off a couple of players – one of them Kane, by now on all fours – before being cleared.
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23 min “For some reason,” writes Joe Pearson. “Fox Sports thinks American viewers want to watch Liechtenstein vs Iceland. What!? And I’m not going to pay for their premium streamer, so please keep the updates coming thick and fast. TIA!”
He’s not in the squad this time.
22 min Malinovskyi’s shot from the edge of the area is blocked by his teammate Mudryk. He caught that quite sweetly.
20 min Chilwell, still over on the right following a corner, swings a very deep cross that is headed straight at Trubin by Kane. He had to scramble over a defender so it was a quarter-chance at best.
Tell you what, the normalisation of xG has done a right number on that most useful liveblog cliche, the half-chance.
20 min “Given we’re talking shirt numbers,” says Andy Flintoff, “maybe the best of all time would be Hicham Zerouali’s 0 for Aberdeen, for which he had to get special permission from the SPL.”
So that’s who the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were singing about.
19 min England are dominating possession, though their attacking play so far has been slightly pedestrian.
18 min Trubin is fine.
16 min Saka’s overhit cross is spilled inexplicably by Trubin, who then reacts well to smother Maddison’s follow-up. Maddison follows through into Trubin, who stays down after wearing a few of Maddison’s studs. It was a bouncing ball, nothing vicious from Maddison.
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15 min Yaremchuk walks through on goal, obviously offside but allowed to continue. Stones stops playing, then thinks he’d better try to make a tackle just in case. It’s too late for that, but Yaremchuk shoots wide and then the flag goes up.
13 min That did look like a foul on Bellgingham just outside the D, but the referee isn’t interested. And that’s why: replays show Stepanenko made a good tackle.
12 min “Numbers?” says Gary Naylor. “Ossie.”
Ossie? 4.40pm.
11 min England are starting to play some decent stuff. Chilwell gallivants down the left and curls an inviting cross that just evades Kane at the far post.
8 min Kane wriggles away from Svatok on the six-yard line and goes over. He’s convinced it’s a penalty, but the referee is having none of it and the VAR went back for seconds at the carvery so they’re all fast asleep. Svatok certainly didn’t get the ball, though I doubt it qualifies as a clear and obvious error. You can’t, at least from the replays I’ve seen, be certain that Svatok tripped Kane.
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8 min Nothing much to report. The game so far has been as flat as the atmosphere, but there’s plenty of time for both to change.
6 min “Xavi and Iniesta were 6 and 8 for Barcelona,” says Simon Frank, “but 8 and 6 respectively for Spain, which I found odd.”
IT’S BECAUSE THEY WERE THE SAME PERSON. (Yes, yes, I know their styles of play were actually fairly different, but I’m a sucker for a cheap line.)
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4 min Sudakov threads a dangerous pass inside Walker towards Mudryk, but Walker does well to get between man and ball. Moments later, Yaremchuk’s shot from the edge of the D has the sting taken out of it by Maguire and Stones.
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3 min Malinovskyi is fine.
2 min “Re: the heated debate about the number a midfielder should wear I’ll throw a spanner in the works and point out that Peter Cormack, Ray Kennedy and Ronnie Whelan all played in midfield for Liverpool but wore No5 shirts,” says Michael Smith. “I don’t recall any outrage against this disrespect for football tradition at the time but perhaps we need a retrospective condemnation?”
I’m here for you.
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1 min Malinovskyi wins a header near the halfway line and is flattened by Chilwell. I’m not sure whether it was a clash of heads or whether Chilwell caught him with the arm. Either way Malinovskyi is down and looks pretty groggy.
1 min Peep peep! The 21-year-old phenomenon known to all as Bukayo Saka gets the game under way.
We’re slightly behind schedule. I don’t know why I said ‘we’ there, I’ve got bugger all to do with it. As I type, the players have gathered round the centre circle for a minute’s applause in honour of one of the boys of 66, George Cohen.
“Re: Liverpool ‘86,” begins Rich in south Wales. “They had form for this. Check out the ‘88 and ‘89 teams. Always going with the No2 and 6 centre-back pairing. Only team in the 80s FA Cup finals to do that, so... have we stumbled upon the real reason they dominated the decade? Seems suspicious to me.”
We’ve all heard of financial doping, but shirt-number doping sounds far more interesting. Not that I have a solitary clue how it might work.
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As the players line up for the anthems, Ukraine’s players draped in their flag, here’s a reminder of the two teams.
England (4-3-3) Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire, Chilwell; Henderson, Rice, Bellingham; Saka, Kane, Maddison.
Substitutes: Trippier, Ramsdale, Guehi, Dier, Grealish, Phillips, Gallagher, Toney, Forster.
Ukraine (4-3-3) Trubin; Karavaev, Svatok, Matviyenko, Mykolenko; Sudakov, Stepanenko, Zinchenko; Malinvoskyi, Yaremchuk, Mudryk.
Substitutes: Lunin, Shevchenko, Sobol, Sarapii, Sydorchuk, Konoplianka, Dovbyk, Miroshnichenko, Buyalskiy, Tsygankov, Bondarenko, Pikhalonok.
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The pre-match thoughts of Gareth Southgate
[Getting six points out of six] would put in a really strong position, but also we want to develop those habits of consistent performances and consistent results. That’s the message we’ve delivered this weekend.
[James Maddison] has earned this opportunity. He’s been consistent for his club, his training with us has been at a really top level, so I’m really excited to see him play now. We want him to have the licence to drift; that’s what he’s good at. He’s great at finding pockets of space so I don’t want to restrict him too much. He’s obviously got to do his work without the ball but when we’ve got the ball he’s got that freedom to go and hurt them.
It’s great to have [Ben Chilwell] back and in good condition. He’s excellent getting forward and running in behind, so we’re excited about seeing that pair [with Maddison] down that side.
We’re hugely respectful of everything that’s happening [in Ukraine] and there are lots of tributes here and a lot of sympathy and support. Equally, from our perspective, we have a job to do, and they want to knock us out. It is a game of football, there are a lot more important things going on in the world, but our focus has to be on this.
“Judging from the shirt numbers given out,” begins Nigel Moore, “it looks like Southgate has gone with a retro 2-3-5 formation which was de rigueur in the 1950s before all the professors started to stick their fingers into formations.”
I’ve been looking at England’s squad numbers for Italia 90. Neil Webb, a playmaker, was No4 and Terry Butcher No6. Then again, Bryan Robson was No7, so what do you say about that.
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“Am I the only one,” says Jeff Sax, “who thinks Declan Rice is overrated?”
I believe your opinion is shared by two other titans of central midfield: Graeme Souness and Roy Keane.
“4 and 8 would be traditional English numbers for midfield,” says Dom Thomas. “5 and 6 would be the two centre halves. 6 is a holding midfielder in Spain/Argentina/Germany.”
And now in England, right? I wonder when it changed. Maybe when we all started to worship at the altar of “Pep”.
“You are, as ever, correct,” says Richard Hirst. “FA Cup final 1975 - Alan Mullery No4, Bobby Moore No6. Never to be forgotten!”
You say that, but I’ve just had a look at Liverpool’s team for the 1986 FA Cup final and I could barely be more wrong if Bruce Grobbelaar had worn No722.
This is the first time England have played Ukraine since the start of the war against Russia last February. It’s hard to think of anything original or profound to say about it, but it will always be part of the story of today’s game.
Oleksandr Zinchenko's powerful message for Ukrainians
— Channel 4 Sport (@C4Sport) March 26, 2023
You can see his extended chat with @krishgm on the C4 Sport YouTube Channel
📲 https://t.co/bQ2S1SGASR#C4Football | #ENGUKR | @uafukraine pic.twitter.com/9Du8F8gica
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In recent months, Jude Bellingham has joined Gareth Southgate’s list of nigh-on guaranteed picks. He’s still only 19.
“Kudos to England for using sequential shirt numbers, 1 through 11 in the classical style,” says Peter Oh. “It looks like the numbers correspond to positions, with one exception. Unless Maguire (6) is meant to be holding midfielder today, shouldn’t he switch with Rice (4)? Regardless, I applaud the effort. I reckon Harry Kane will be working hard to add to his record-breaking scoring tally. Nine to fifty-five, what a way to make a livin’!”
I may have misremembered this, but when I first started watching football (1980s) it wasn’t unusual for the second centre-back to wear No6 and one of the central midfielders to be No4.
Just one small question, Harry: why are you trolling yourself?
H.E. Kane: 54 not out
Qualification for major tournaments has been a formality under Gareth Southgate, and England’s win in Naples on Thursday means they are already ahead of the game. It’s not the easiest group, actually – Italy, Ukraine, North Macedonia, Malta – but with two teams qualifying automatically and a third entering the playoffs, England have plenty of margin for error.
In fact, their brilliant record in qualifying predates Southgate. In the last 10 years they’ve won 37 out of 43 games, with a solitary defeat in Prague in 2019.
Team news: Maddison starts
Gareth Southgate makes three changes from Thursday’s win in Italy. James Maddison, starting an England game for the first time, Jordan Henderson and Ben Chilwell replace Jack Grealish, Kalvin Phillips and the suspended Luke Shaw.
This is Ukraine’s first game since they drew with Scotland in the Nations League last September. Their team includes three Premier League players: Vitaliy Mykolenko, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Mykhailo Mudryk.
For a variety of reasons, England are down to their last nine subs. The humanity.
England (4-3-3) Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire, Chilwell; Henderson, Rice, Bellingham; Saka, Kane, Maddison.
Substitutes: Trippier, Ramsdale, Guehi, Dier, Grealish, Phillips, Gallagher, Toney, Forster.
Ukraine (4-3-3) Trubin; Karavaev, Svatok, Matviyenko, Mykolenko; Sudakov, Stepanenko, Zinchenko; Malinvoskyi, Yaremchuk, Mudryk.
Substitutes: Lunin, Shevchenko, Sobol, Sarapii, Sydorchuk, Konoplianka, Dovbyk, Miroshnichenko, Buyalskiy, Tsygankov, Bondarenko, Pikhalonok.
Your #ThreeLions to play Ukraine! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/egZwmgW3bq
— England (@England) March 26, 2023
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Foden out due to appendix surgery
But why won’t you pick him, Gareth.
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Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of England v Ukraine at Wembley. We do not, dear reader, live in a world that celebrates quiet achievement. This is a golden age of English football, at club level and country, but you wouldn’t always know it from the persistently negative mood around the national team. Even a win away to the European champions on Thursday wasn’t enough for many of Twitter’s finest.
The subject has been done to death by more talented, more engaged and more patriotic writers than me, so we don’t need to go into it again. Let’s just agree that, if England don’t beat Ukraine handsomely today, a dreaded hashtag will probably be trending by sundown.
Gareth Southgate isn’t beyond reproach, far from it, but future generations will surely wonder what happened to the collective English noggin in the late 2010s and early 2020s. They might ask one or two question about the football team as well, honk honk.
Some of the more intense criticism of Southgate involves his reluctance to change personnel, whether it’s mid-game* or match to match, so it was a pleasant surprise to read in your superb soaraway Observer that James Maddison is likely to start today. What’s Gareth up to here? What’s his angle?
Kick off 5pm.
* A surprise, this, given that his inspiration Terry Venables made two decisive tactical changes at half-time against Scotland and Spain. Only one involved a change of personnel, but the point stands.
