22 min Hall makes a snappy challenge just outside the Czechia<\/a> area on the left. Gordon collects and whips a curling shot just wide of the far post. That\u2019s a pretty good effort.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 21 min See 19 min.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 19 min England continue to dominate possession but Czechia are lively and purposeful on the break. Thus far, it\u2019s a decent game.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>16 min: Rogers hits the post!<\/p>\n A precise low cross from Gordon finds Rogers, whose shot on the turn hits the face of the far post. Anderson\u2019s follow-up is blocked, as is Saka\u2019s.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a015.03 EDT<\/p>\n 13 min Kane is well tackled high up the field. The ball runs to Sulc, who delays and delays and then drives a shot that is blocked by Chalobah. England<\/a> are not oozing solidity in defence.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a015.01 EDT<\/p>\n 12 min Radosta runs at Hall and clips a cross that is headed away by Guehi. Cerv addresses the loose ball with a volley from 22 yards that flies wide.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 9 min Harry Kane is spoken to by the referee after an off-the-ball incident with Cerv. I\u2019d like to see that again; at best, Kane was heavy-handed. But then aren\u2019t we all.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 7 min \u201cIn other news,\u201d writes Charles Antaki, \u201cEngland are officially defensively better than Croatia, we have just conceded a goal after one minute 12 seconds. Scored by Lamine Yamal, of course, whose dander was presumably up having been whacked by one of the more heavy-duty Croatians just a couple of moments before.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.57 EDT<\/p>\n 5 min: Chance for Czechia<\/a> A long ball from defence skips past Anderson near the halfway line, allowing Sulc to run beyond Chalobah and through on goal. His touch is heavy and Trafford charges to the edge of the box to smother. Excellent goalkeeping.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.53 EDT<\/p>\n 3 min Plenty of early possession for England<\/a>, though nothing to report beyond that.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 1 min Peep peep! England<\/a> kick off from left to right as we watch.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n There\u2019s a minute applause in memory of the mighty Ludek Miklosko, a Blackburn and West Ham legend, who died earlier this month aged 64.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n \u2018Just buckle down and do your time, like Leslie Grantham\u2019<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Thomas Tuchel\u2019s pre-match thoughts<\/p>\n double quotation markTwo [of the changes in defence] are forced, with Nico O\u2019Reilly and Ezri Konsa out. One is deliberate \u2013 we went for Trent.<\/p>\n The message is what we expect from him, where the spaces are\u2026 otherwise he doesn\u2019t need a lot, he\u2019s very experienced. It\u2019s been a cursed position for us [with injuries], so today is his chancee.<\/p>\n [On Jude Bellingham\u2019s omission] We had a chat this morning. Both our hearts said 60 minutes, but both our heads said 30 minutes make more sense.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Fifty years later<\/p>\n A kick remembered for comedic reasons, largely through Micah Richards and Alan Shearer chuckling about it every few months on their podcast<\/a>. But at the time this was a moment of pathos and heartbreak, as Lineker passed up his best<\/a>, if not his last, chance to equal Bobby Charlton\u2019s all-time England goal record.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.43 EDT<\/p>\n This is Thomas Tuchel\u2019s 24th England<\/a> game \u2013 and his 20th different back four. The days of Stevens-Walker-Butcher-Pearce* are long gone.<\/p>\n * Yeah, yeah, I know they changed after the first game of Italia 90, but it was a settled back four until then.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Ian Wright, who is the part of the ITV team tonight, says Manchester City have been found guilty of \u201ccheating on an industrial scale\u2026 an unprecedented punishment is required\u201d.<\/p>\n Roy Keane, wearing a dark blue smoking jacket that makes him look like a volatile Hugh Hefner, says they \u201cdeserve that punishment\u201d and that it\u2019s \u201cnot good for the league\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n In other news\u2026<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.18 EDT<\/p>\n James Trafford looks genuinely affronted. The Leeds goalkeeper\u2019s reaction borders on incredulity. Was it a season of frustration for him at Manchester City<\/a> last time out, he is asked? A wasted year? \u201cI won two trophies,\u201d he says very simply and very firmly.<\/p>\n Defiance is the stock in trade of a goalkeeper and Trafford has a nice line in it, on and off the pitch. Thrust into the England lineup against Spain at Wembley on Saturday <\/a>for only his third cap, he performed well, particularly during the opening 35 minutes when the world champions threatened to run riot. Trafford made two excellent saves that kept England in contention, laying the groundwork for their surge into a 2-1 half-time lead. They ended up losing 3-2 in the Nations League opener after Harry Kane missed a 54th-minute penalty for 3-1.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Czechia are also on nil points in Nations League<\/a> Group A3 \u2013 they lost 2-1 at home to Croatia on Saturday.<\/p>\n Share<\/a> England dominated Spain to an extent very few teams have in recent years. Sadly for them, not in terms of goals<\/a>. Nor possession. But ownership of the ball is less important than where on the pitch it occurs. Thomas Tuchel\u2019s side had 36 touches in the visitors\u2019 penalty area, a ridiculously high total when put in context of Spain\u2019s last decade.<\/p>\n They allowed just 9.5 touches per 90 minutes at the 2026 World Cup. The combined efforts of Belgium, France and Argentina registered 38 touches in the Spain box in the final three rounds of the tournament. Since available records began (at the start of Euro 2016), the most box touches a side has had against Spain was the 45 Germany had in the quarter-final of Euro 2024. However, that game went to extra time. France had 42 in normal time in the ridiculous Nations League<\/a> semi-final they lost 5-4 last year, then come England, second best in regular time from a sample of 133 matches.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n So, Trent Alexander-Arnold starts for the first time under Thomas Tuchel. As our football correspondent David Hytner points out, he has made only one appearance under Tuchel as a substitute against Andorra. For richer (mainly) and poorer, his inclusion will make England<\/a> a different team.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a013.56 EDT<\/p>\n England ended 2025 protected by a shield of deceptive strength. They went through qualifying for the World Cup without conceding a goal and secured a shutout during a routine friendly win against Wales. However, clean sheets have been harder to come by this year. England have kept four in 13 games in 2026, meaning it may not be long before Thomas Tuchel rethinks his suggestion that the way to deal with his side\u2019s lack of control<\/a> is to embrace chaos.<\/p>\n There is, of course, an irony to telling Tuchel to sort out his defence. Isn\u2019t this what we wanted? England were limp and passive when they lost their World Cup semi-final<\/a> against Argentina. At least the mindset was positive when Tuchel\u2019s side opened their Nations League campaign with a sprightly but flawed 3-2 defeat against Spain last Saturday.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Thomas Tuchel says it would be \u201cmadness\u201d to allow his England players or the clubs to pick and choose their matches during the elongated Nations League<\/a> window as he promised to go full throttle for victory against Czechia in Prague on Tuesday.<\/p>\n The manager did accept that Declan Rice needed to rest and could not be part of the squad in light of the Arsenal midfielder\u2019s heavy workload across a number of seasons and well-documented fitness issues. Rice was at Wembley on Saturday to watch England lose 3-2 against Spain<\/a> in their opening Nations League game.<\/p>\n Share<\/a> You could feel it inside the stadium, one of those moments where the air starts to shift, the birds fly backwards through the sky, and outside on Wembley Way an old man clutches his copy of the England<\/a> Pathway Blueprint to his chest and cowers up at the moon. Welcome to the witching hour, 55 minutes in, when things just seem to happen to Thomas Tuchel\u2019s England.<\/p>\n Before this Nations League opener there was general agreement on the desirability of systems, pattern, repeatability. And you can\u2019t say England aren\u2019t consistent. Their last two significant matches, here and in Atlanta in July<\/a>, have both involved going a goal ahead against the World Cup finalists, playing well and dominating parts of the game, right up until the 55-minute mark.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Team news<\/p>\n There are four changes for England<\/a> from Saturday\u2019s defeat, three in defence. Trent Alexander-Arnold, Trevoh Chalobah, Lewis Hall and Morgan Rogers replace Jarell Quansah, Ezri Konsa, Nico O\u2019Reilly and Jude Bellingham.<\/p>\n Rio Ngumoha, who was left out of the matchday squad on Saturday, is among the subs.<\/p>\n Czechia (4-3-3) Kovar; Chaloupek, Hranac, Krejci, Slama; Cerv, Sulc, Sadilek; Radosta, Hlosek, Karabec.<\/p>\n Subs: Hornicek, Kinsky, Kricfalusi, Zmrzly, Vasulin, Ambros, Vitik, Bucha, Macek, Lingr, Kral, Sacek.<\/p>\n England (4-2-3-1) Trafford; Alexander-Arnold, Chalobah, Guehi, Hall; Anderson, Lewis-Skelly; Saka, Rogers, Gordon; Kane.<\/p>\n Subs: Pickford, Steele, Scott, Konsa, Bellingham, Ngumoha, Branthwaite, Garner, Calvert-Lewin, Gibbs-White, Eze, Quansah.<\/p>\n Referee Umut Meler (Turkey).<\/p>\n England\u2019s starting XI ahead of kick-off. Photograph: Martin Div\u00ed\u0161ek\/EPAShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.55 EDT<\/p>\n Thomas Tuchel will resist making drastic changes to his defence despite England going six games without a clean sheet before facing Czechia in the Nations League<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Although Tuchel acknowledged that his side were a \u201cdanger to ourselves\u201d when they lost 3-2 against Spain<\/a> last Saturday, the head coach stood by Marc Gu\u00e9hi and Nico O\u2019Reilly after their errors against the world champions.<\/p>\n The message was one of continuity as England<\/a> arrived in Prague for their second game in Nations League Group A3. Tuchel has injury concerns over O\u2019Reilly and Ezri Konsa but is likely to keep the changes to a minimum at the back. James Trafford will continue in goal and Tuchel believes the defeat against Spain was down to individual mistakes rather than structural issues with England\u2019s defending.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Preamble<\/p>\n Hello and welcome to live coverage of the Nations League<\/a> game between Czechia and England in Prague. Big game, this. A win for England would reduce the slowly growing pressure on Thomas Tuchel; a defeat would give it more fertiliser and leave England up against it in the admittedly not-that-important battle to reach the Nations League quarter-finals.<\/p>\n England did a lot of good things against Spain on Saturday, and losing to the best team in the world should never be a crime. But rightly or wrongly, the mood around the England<\/a> team has been febrile since their collapse against Argentina, so tonight matters. A good result \u2013 and an emphatic performance \u2013 would come in handy.<\/p>\n Kick-off 7.45pm BST.<\/p>\n![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/David_Hytner,_L.png\")
David Hytner<\/p>\n![\"Andrew](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790709017_112_Andrew_Beasley.png\")
Andrew Beasley<\/p>\n![\"Barney](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Barney_Ronay.png\")
Barney Ronay<\/p>\n![\"Jacob](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790709018_513_Jacob-Steinberg,-L.png\")
Jacob Steinberg<\/p>\n