Rice and Lingard help England complete perfect international break

Declan Rice in action

 

Declan Rice started and Jesse Lingard appeared as a late substitute as England beat Poland 2-1 at Wembley on Wednesday evening.

The West Ham United pair were in action as Gareth Southgate's side made it three wins out of three in 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying Group I.

Rice started on his 15th appearance for England, while Lingard was introduced as a late substitute to collect his 27th cap.

The 22-year-old Rice impressed again in central midfield, completing 62 of his 66 pass attempts, making five tackles, two clearances and two interceptions.

After winning 5-0 at home to San Marino and 2-0 in Albania, England looked to be on course for another clean sheet when Harry Kane converted from the penalty spot after Raheem Sterling had been fouled.

However, a defensive error was punished by Jakub Moder and it appeared the home side would have to settle for a point.

There was a late twist, though, as John Stones headed down Kalvin Phillips' corner and Harry Maguire slammed a shot high into the Poland net.

The victory took England onto nine points from their opening three qualifiers, two ahead of Hungary, three ahead of Albania and five ahead of Poland, who were without the injured Robert Lewandowski, and who named Hammer Łukasz Fabiański among their unused substitutes.

The Irons trio now return to Club duty, with West Ham back in Premier League action at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday 5 April at 8.15pm.

England's next international is a UEFA European Championship warm-up at home to Austria on 2 June.

Elsewhere, Frederik Alves was a 78th-minute substitute for Denmark U21s in a 3-0 win over Russia that saw the Danes top Group C and reach the UEFA European Championship quarter-finals.