INMR FOOTBALL

England 2-0 Finland: Nations League – AS IT HAPPENED

The Three Lions are back at Wembley and tonight Lee Carsley manages his first game under the arch as England face Finland. This evening I, Isabelle Newnham, will take you through all the action with minute-by-minute updates LIVE. Will England remain unbeaten against Finland or will we witness a Nations League shock? Find out here…

INMR
9–13 minutes
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The Three Lions are back at Wembley and tonight Lee Carsley manages his first game under the arch as England face Finland. This evening I, Isabelle Newnham, will take you through all the action with minute-by-minute updates LIVE. Will England remain unbeaten against Finland or will we witness a Nations League shock? Find out here on INMR, coverage begins at 7:15PM GMT.

Check out my match preview:

Today’s venue: Wembley Stadium, London

The starting line-ups are out, take a look:

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England vs Finland AS IT HAPPENED

1′: Both sides have paid tribute to former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson who passed away last month before kick off. Finland’s Glen Kamara gets us underway at Wembley as referee, Morten Krogh, blows his whistle.

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2′: Lee Carsley has made four changes to the starting line-up from the 2-0 win against Ireland. They are Angel Gomes, John Stones, Ezri Konsa and Rico Lewis. The attacking four remains unchanged as Harry Kane makes his 100th appearance for his country.

4′: Anthony Gordon is busy already down the left wing, cutting inside to swing a cross towards the back post. He finds Kane who tries to nod the ball back across goal to Bukayo Saka but Finland manage to bundle the ball away for a corner.

5′: Jack Grealish is getting involved again and lays the ball off to Declan Rice on the edge of the box. The Arsenal midfielder swings and misses the ball completely and the play fizzles out. He won’t want to watch that one back!

7′: Finland opting for the ultra-defensive approach from the get-go, England have got the ball down the left wing again and Finland have eight players in their own penalty area.

8′: Another corner for England as Kane’s shot is blocked by Matti Peltola. Trent Alexander-Arnold takes but Lukas Hradecky clears the danger with a big punch.

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10′: Teemu Pukki leads the line for Finland; he’s a very well known player in England after five years as a Norwich City player. He scored in the club’s infamous 3-2 win over Manchester City in 2019.

13′: England are on top by a landslide so far, enjoying 90% possession. They’ve also completed 117 passes compared to Finland’s 11.

15′: England are unbeaten in all 11 of their previous meetings with Finland, winning nine and drawing two.

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18′: Rico Lewis plays the ball out to Gordon, before receiving it back and heading towards the right wing to link up with Alexander-Arnold.

19′: Back out Gordon who goes down the by-line this time and he wins a corner, it’s going to be a long evening for Finland full-back Adam Stahl.

20′: Gordon goes inside to Grealish whose surrounded by multiple blue shirts. It eventually fell to Kane who has a go but Hradecky makes a good parrying save.

23′: Almost the perfect moment for Kane! He’s put the ball into the back of the net but the linesman raises his flag. So unlucky for the Bayern striker on his special night.

25′: VAR confirms the linesman’s decision and play resumes. It remains goalless with 20 minutes left of the half. England have dominated but they’ve not had many clear cut chances to get the all important opener.

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27′: Pukki is fuming! Space opens up for Topi Keskinen after Rice needlessly concedes possession inside his own half. The Finland midfielder opts to blaze a right-footed effort into the stands.

30′: Gomes wins the ball in Finland’s box but Krogh deems it as a foul, the Lille midfielder can’t believe it and looking at the replay he was unlucky there. Very soft challenge.

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31′: Fantastic ball by Konsa into Saka who aims for Kane again, it’s blocked and England have another corner. Rice is questioning his Arsenal teammate who could have pulled it back to someone else.

33′: Grealish exchanges a quick one-two with Lewis but it’s tapped away by a Finland defender. The corner comes all the way out to Saka outside the box, he tries to cut in and shoot from distance but his effort is off target.

35′: Only 10 minutes left until the interval and still no goal.

37′: Stones is looking comfortable so far after an injury riddled start to the campaign. He’s played just 40 minutes for Manchester City this season.

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39′: Finland 14 emerges with the ball but Konsa slides in to win possession. England burst forward with numbers but can’t apply the finishing touch again, something must change after the break.

41′: The pace England are playing at is nowhere near as fast as what is was on the weekend. How can Carsley get his side playing high intensity football again in the second half?

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42′: So close from Alexander-Arnold! Lewis is encouraged to shoot by the England fans but instead he draws multiple Finland players towards him before releasing the ball to Alexander-Arnold. He attempts to drive the ball into the far corner but his shot whistles just wide of the post.

43′: Gomes wins England a free kick right outside the 18-yard box as Glen Kamara brings him down. Kane and Grealish want it but Alexander-Arnold will take.

44′: It’s off target but he wasn’t a million miles away, goal kick to Finland who have done really well so far defensively to keep the Euro 2024 finalists at bay.

HT: It’s 0-0 at the break and despite England being the more dominant side, they’ve dropped off significantly from their Ireland performance. Finland haven’t posed England much danger but there’s always the risk of that happening the longer the game remains goalless. More to come in the second half, see you in 15 minutes.

45′: We are back in action for the second half as England’s Rice gets us started. How long will the deadlock remain unbroken?

46′: Finland make a double change, Ilmari Niskanen replaces Jere Uronen in the first of those and Benjamin Kallman replaces Pukki.

47′: Free kick for Finland as Gomes catches Rasmus Schuller’s knee, that looked nasty but the Lille midfielder has got away without a booking.

48′: Konsa has been down for a while and looking at the replay it’s a horrible roll on his ankle. Jordan Pickford is screaming for medical attention.

50′: Konsa is back to his feet and putting weight on his ankle, that looked like it was going to be a big injury but he looks fairly okay.

52′: Rice swings a big cross towards the back post which comes back out to Lewis who is urged again to shoot by the fans. He opts to pass and England string together some good passes before Grealish is fouled. The referee aims to play advantage but brings it back when appropriate.

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53′: Kane takes this free kick and it’s a brilliant save from Hradecky. Kane’s strike rifles through the wall but the Bayer Leverkusen shot stopper gets down and makes a strong save.

54′: This is much better from England already, there are white shirts queuing up now to get the shots off.

56′: Kamara tries to mount an attack but Konsa intercepts well, he has looked fine since going down five minutes ago. He’ll be a key player this season for Aston Villa in both the Premier League and Champions League.

57′: HE’S DONE IT!! Harry Kane scores for England on his 100th cap with a thunderous strike. It was going to take something special to beat Hradecky tonight and there it is. A moment of pure brilliance from the nations top goal scorer.

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57′: Alexander-Arnold shows quick thinking to play the ball into Kane to claim yet another assist. Kane was denied a remarkable overhead kick moments earlier but at the second time of asking he gets the all important goal. A cheeky nutmeg and a smashing effort into the roof of the net to find the breakthrough for Carsley’s side.

60′: Konsa clearly wasn’t okay, he’s just been replaced by Levi Colwill. The Chelsea defender played at left back in the Ireland match but will see out the remaining half hour in his natural position alongside Stones.

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63′: The isolated Fredrick Jensen is brought off by Kanerva for Robin Lod. Jensen managed just 17 touches this evening, very quiet.

66′: Double change for England as Saka makes way for England’s latest debutant Noni Madueke. He scored a hat-trick against Wolves two weeks ago in the Premier League. Gordon also makes way for Eberechi Eze.

67′: Madueke tries to get amongst the action immediately with lots of little shimmies on the edge of the box before getting a shot off on goal. It took a deflection on the way and in the end was a simple stop for Hradecky.

70′: Eze dinks a great ball towards the back post to Madueke, a free kick was conceded in the build up as Kane pushes an opponent but the two attacking subs are linking up well already.

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71′: Grealish beats Lod on the wing and gets the ball back out to Rice who unlocks Alexander-Arnold. The Liverpool man’s cross is good but no-ones there to head home.

73′: Alexander-Arnold whips in yet another beautiful cross into the box, Eze swings at the cross to volley but his effort isn’t timed well and flys over the bar.

74′: Another change for Finland, Oliver Antman comes on for Keskinen. This is Antman’s 14th Finland appearance, he’s scored six goals so far since making his debut in September 2022.

76′: GOALLL FOR ENGLAND!! It’s that man again, two for England and two for Kane. Alexander-Arnold plays a tidy one-two with Madueke who neatly prods the ball towards Kane with the outside of his left boot. Kane takes a look and strikes towards the far corner to add to a special evening, a well worked goal finished off by the skipper.

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79′: Another double change for England, Stones comes off for Marc Guehi and Kane’s night is over as Jarrod Bowen enters. Without VAR Kane would have a hat-trick but he’s left with a smile on his face.

82′: Carsley will surely be ending the September international break with back-to-back victories. The interim manager can hardly do anything else to stake his claim for the permanent role, having overseen two dominant performances.

84′: Schuller has been a brighter spark for Finland but his night is over as Leo Walta sees out the match.

85′: Grealish threads a nice ball through to Madueke but Finland are back to eight players in the box to stop the home sides progress. It looks like damage limitation now for Markku Kanerva’s side.

87′: Bowen wriggles through three blue shirts but can’t square the ball to a teammate.

90′: England are set to make it 12 games unbeaten against Finland, they’ve got five minutes of added time to see out now.

90+1′: Rice continues to sprint across the pitch lunging into challenges, he has no fatigue concerns to worry about as he will miss out on Premier League action this weekend due to suspension.

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90+3′: Grealish bursts down the flank before squeezing the ball into Eze’s path. He chips it into Gomes and England are really showing off now, stringing together multiple flair passes.

90+4′: Madueke cuts inside before trying to bend the ball into the top corner but his standing foot slips and the effort goes wide. That could be it for this evening.

FT: It’s all over at Wembley and it’s a perfect night for Kane as he nets a brace on his 100th match for the Three Lions. After a quiet first 45 minutes, England came racing out the blocks for the second half and their efforts paid off fairly quickly. Carsley secures back-to-back victories as he stakes his claim to become the permanent England boss. That’s all from me – thanks for following along, goodbye!

Read the match report here:

Golden Kane steals the show on his 100th cap – MATCH REPORT

Written by Isabelle Newnham

More from INMR…

Five things we’ve learned from the international break so far
Lee Carsley’s England Tactics Explained

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