Key events
Harry Kane, 124 caps and counting, speaks to ITV ahead of the next, and fairly important, one. “It’s always special … just seeing Wembley … I never take it for granted … it’s obviously a special night but we have to focus on the job … [my debut] was just as I dreamt it … I am extremely proud to represent England … that was an amazing moment for me, and I’ve been lucky to do it again a fair few times! … we’ve been extremely close [to winning a trophy] on many occasions … we’re closer than we’ve ever been before … we still have to prove it on the bigger stage … we’re in a good place, I’m in a good place, the team is looking really strong and hungry … we keep testing ourselves … hopefully the best is yet to come.”
Thomas Tuchel speaks to ITV. “There is never a perfect 90 minutes but it was a very, very good 90 minutes … a very impressive performance on and off the ball … for the whole period of the match … we felt it straight away from the start that we had a good performance … we have improved in the movements when Harry Kane drops … we have Jude Bellingham a bit closer to him … if both drop, Anthony Gordon and Bukayo Saka were always ready to go through the last line … we have worked on that … to fill the box … we had four or five people in the box … we are getting there … the front four love to play with each other … very dangerous … have full support from behind … I am hoping Morgan Rogers can prove a point today because we are saving some legs … [the longer international break] for patterns is very good … the language sinks in … a different style of play from the clubs … if you have more than two games you can have a training session, show, debrief … let the patterns sink in.”
Tuchel also reminisces about his time playing as a child in the back garden, pretending to be Peter Shilton and/or Ray Clemence. A laugh and a smile with ITV’s Mark Pougatch. He’s as relaxed and carefree as you’d expect for a man who has just seen his team score seven goals away from home.
Some more on the Shilton-bothering antics of England’s current captain. (We are of course assuming Kane won’t do himself a mischief in the warm-up. Shilts must be cursing that alternate-appearance arrangement with Ray Clemence during the late 1970s, huh?)
Updated at 13.46 EDT
The big news – of course – is Harry Kane’s record-equalling appearance for England. He leads the line tonight and by doing so, earns his 125th cap. He joins Peter Shilton at the head of a distinguished list (see below). Shilton took 21 years to clock up that number of caps; Kane has just needed 11, since coming on for Wayne Rooney against Lithuania as a 21-year-old in 2015 and taking just 79 seconds to score his first international goal.
The other bits of team news aren’t insignificant, though. Trent Alexander-Arnold, who made his first start for England in nearly two years last week in Prague, but sat out the weekend rout of Croatia, reclaims his spot at right-back. Jarell Quansah, who took his place in Rijeka, moves to the centre of defence. Meanwhile Myles Lewis-Skelly deputises for the injured Alex Scott, while Eberechi Eze replaces the in-form Anthony Gordon on the left flank. Morgan Rogers also gets a start.
Updated at 13.42 EDT
The teams
England: Pickford, Alexander-Arnold, Quansah, Guehi, Hall, Anderson, Bellingham, Lewis-Skelly, Rogers, Kane, Eze.
Subs: Trafford, Steele, Saka, Gordon, Chalobah, Ngumoha, Branthwaite, Garner, Calvert-Lewin, Gibbs-White, Lewis.
Czechia: Horníček, Coufal, Vitík, Hranáč, Sláma, Král, Sadílek, Šulc, Ambros, Naderi, Lingr.
Kovář, Kinský, Kričfaluši, Zmrzlý, Vašulín, Hložek, Sejk, Šubert, Bucha, Radosta, Macek, Sáček.
Referee: Serdar Gözübüyük (Netherlands).
Updated at 14.19 EDT
Some early team news. It’s piping hot off the press, courtesy of our man at Wembley, Jacob Steinberg …
double quotation markTrent Alexander-Arnold is expected to get another chance at right-back tonight. He impressed in Prague last week. Eberechi Eze is also poised to make his first start of this camp.
It’s going to be a big evening for our Admin and Housekeeping department, as a couple of tables will need significantly updating by the end of it. First up there’s Group A3 of the Nations League, which currently stands like this …
1. Spain P3 GD+6 Pts 9
2. England P3 GD+8 Pts 6
3. Croatia P3 GD-9 Pts 3
4. Czechia P3 GD-5 Pts 0
… and there’ll also be the small matter of England men’s all-time appearance chart, the top of which is forecast to be hit by a crossfire Harry Kane. It’s a gas, gas, gas!
125: Peter Shilton
124: Harry Kane
120: Wayne Rooney
115: David Beckham
114: Steven Gerrard
108: Bobby Moore
107: Ashley Cole
106: Bobby Charlton, Frank Lampard
105: Billy Wright
96: Kyle Walker
94: John Stones
91: Jordan Henderson, Jordan Pickford
90: Bryan Robson
SharePreamble
Czechia have played 14 matches in the last 12 months. They’ve only won four of them: against San Marino, Gibraltar, Kosovo and Guatemala. They’ve lost their last four straight: against Mexico, Croatia, Spain and … England, who by contrast are coming off the back of a third-placed finish at the World Cup, a decent showing against the new world champions, and an historic win in Croatia. We could go on – England are fourth in the Fifa rankings, the Czechs 50th – but there’s nothing to be gained in belabouring the point … and in any case football doesn’t always work like that, which is why we keep turning up and tuning in. Will England consolidate their position in Group A3 with a view to making next spring’s quarter-finals, or can the Czechs spring a surprise and keep their (admittedly faint) hopes alive? We find out from 7.45pm BST. It’s on!