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YI mean, it was just a throwaway friendly in an empty Wembley stadium between second-row England and limited Wales, but … well, maybe there’s no ‘but’. Maybe that’s the end of the sentence. Not every football game has to mean something. Not every event has to be a learning opportunity. And as England worked its way to a convincing yet harmless victory, the temptation was to wonder if this tepid encounter had changed anything at all. If the fabric of the universe had wrinkled one iota.
Still, if there’s anything more boring than a friendly with England it’s people complaining about how boring England’s friendlies are, presumably while booking all night to watch them. And even if you accept the essentially ephemeral, impromptu feel of Conor-Coady as captain in this contest, there was still plenty here to draw attention to. Jack Grealish was a silvery, swirling delight. Danny Ings’s overhead kick was the fitting reward for a boisterous night of work. And Coady’s first goal for England, capped by a celebration of unbridled and pure disbelief, was a truly moving moment.
Most importantly, in a night of hopeful punts and half experiments, Gareth Southgate now has viable competition as a center forward. One step up, the indomitable Dominic Calvert-Lewin of Everton, whose debut goal may have been elementary enough but whose energy, movement and influence more than justified Southgate’s decision to treat this encounter as a laboratory.
“The stuff of dreams,” Calvert-Lewin said afterward, and for the current Premier League top scorer there is a sense that the planets are aligning, that plans are finally coming true. Equally, of course, with Harry Kane on his own hot streak and probably England’s No. 9 first choice for as long as he wants, there’s a temptation to wonder if any of this really has any consequences. Kane, Jadon Sancho, Raheem Sterling, with Marcus Rashford in reserve – this is the preferred front of the three from Southgate, and everyone knows it. Is Calvert-Lewin really meant to be more than just a practical substitute for impact? Perhaps, at this point, we should back up a bit. England could have won easily enough, but there was no escaping their short supply in the first half hour, or the lack of creativity in midfield.
Of course, this has been a problem area for a few years now. Here, when the midfield collapsed on the defense, the attack collapsed on the midfield, and the wingers were decidedly later than before, some old faults could be glimpsed in this new team.
However, realistically, what did we expect from England’s most inexperienced starting eleven since 1980, when a B-team flew to Australia for an exhibition game that was later upgraded to international status? It was the kind of team you choose when you have no spectators to refund, and yet when the match opened in the second half, England started to look a lot better – the various parts started clicking, racing, looks and passes finally starting to sync with each other.
And although Calvert-Lewin said goodbye early, he had done as much as anyone else to turn the tide. His goal was little intricate or elaborate: a simple run, a neat header, a goal that was due as much to an absent marker as to his own inspiration. But it was on the sidelines of the game that Calvert-Lewin was most threatening: gathering and coordinating the press, timing their runs on the channels, pulling and shoving defenders out of their comfort zones.
This has been the true revelation of Calvert-Lewin in 2020-21. The goals are really just the tip of the iceberg – what has really impressed is industry and intelligence. Under the tutelage of Carlo Ancelotti, he has repressed his natural wandering instincts and has become a veritable penalty killer. Its rhythm and movement forces the defenses to sit a little deeper. Their aerial skill punishes them for it. His jump is as good as any other in the Premier League. And unlike Kane, who is really more of a second auxiliary striker these days, he still has the sharpness and blast to play on the last defender’s shoulder and attack the spaces behind.
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With its marauding full-backs and a sparse, inexpensive midfield, Southgate’s 3-4-3 formation feels like a team built for counterattack rather than long periods of possession. International football is a much simpler game than its club equivalent: a game of set pieces, half chances, second balls, back balls. And if Calvert-Lewin can get through the season without mitigating the excitement of his game, he could become an indispensable tournament asset: not just an injury reserve or bench option, but an alternative or even a complement to Kane.
And yes, it was just a friendly against Wales. But let’s get back to that futile friendly against Australia in 1980, and sure, most of that XI sank without a trace. However, among the untested and untested were a young defender named Terry Butcher and a promising midfielder named Glenn Hoddle. The moral? Sometimes experimentation is just about throwing a few ideas on the wall and seeing what sticks.
