Reece James stunner helps England cruise past Latvia at Wembley | Football

England picked up a 3-0 win over Latvia in World Cup qualifying at Wembley on a predictably comfortable night for Thomas Tuchel’s side.

The first ever meeting between the two nations was never likely to be a see-saw affair and the Three Lions duly dominated possession and territory.

Reece James scored the opening goal as he beautifully curled in a free-kick from 25 yards out, producing by far the best moment of the game.

Harry Kane scored yet again for his country on 68 minutes, netting for the 71st time as he tapped home a Declan Rice ball across the face of goal, while substitute Eberechi Eze danced his way to a third eight minutes later.

The visitors did acquit themselves well defensively and while England were on top throughout, creating clear-cut chances was not straightforward.

In fact, Latvia had an excellent chance to open the scoring themselves on a rare occasion England had to do some defending and badly fluffed their lines.

Jordan Pickford and Marc Guehi suffered a miscommunication on a Latvian through ball and Vladislavs Gutkovskis had a golden chance to score into an open goal but only found the side netting from a fairly tight angle.

There were chances for England in the first-half, with Ezri Konsa and Kane spurning decent opportunities, but it was James who broke the deadlock in memorable fashion.

The Chelsea star was given the chance from a free-kick won by Myles Lewis-Skelly and he brilliantly curled it into the top corner from distance.

The 25-year-old scored for England for the very first time but produced an understated celebration, not doing very much at all despite the superb effort.

Latvia couldn’t offer much of a threat at all and it was like watching an attack vs defence training session for much of the game.

There wasn’t great penetration from England for huge spells, though, with Marcus Rashford lively but ineffective on the left and Jarrod Bowen not achieving much on the right.

Kane too was quiet for the first hour but was in the right place at the right time as he so often is.

Morgan Rogers played in Declan Rice on the right of the penalty area who squared the ball to Kane to find the empty net and score a 71st England goal in 105 caps.

Rogers showed promise in his midfield role, not exactly cementing a place in the team with his performance, but his powerful runs from deep could prove very handy for England going forward.

Another midfielder, Jude Bellingham, was a little lucky to remain on the pitch after a fairly reckless lunge on Raivis Jurkovskis when already on a booking, but the Real Madrid superstar escaped a second yellow on 56 minutes before being substituted.

Crystal Palace’s Eze did provide the penetration that others struggled to when he came off the bench, running at the Latvian defence with some purpose and trickery and finding the back of the net on 76 minutes.

The Eagles man was a little fortunate with his deflected effort ending up in the goal, but deserved a reward for the aggression and intent as he danced into the box and got a shot away.

There could have been more but the game ended 3-0 on a routine evening for the home side.

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