Jordan Pickford was back in goal for England at Wembley this evening as Gareth Southgate’s men booked their place at next summer’s European Championship Finals with a 3-1 win over Italy.
The Everton goalkeeper had made way for Crystal Palace stopper Sam Johnstone for the friendly against Australia and was an unused substitute last Friday but returned to his customary starting role against the Italians.
England fell behind after a quarter of an hour when former West Ham striker, Gianluca Scamacca, converted Italy’s first genuine chance.
Harry Kane levelled before half-time, however, when Jude Bellingham was fouled in the box and the Bayern Munich striker successfully converted the resulting penalty.
Southgate’s side had been less and impressive in the first half but they stepped up a level in the second, going ahead 2-1 when Bellingham’s run set up Marcus Rashford and Kane raced away to score a third with 13 minutes to go.
The victory seals England’s qualification for the 2024 tournament in Germany while Vitalii Mykolenko and Ukraine gave themselves a great chance of joining them with a 3-1 win in Malta.
Who goes through from Group C between Ukraine and Italy might come down to the final game when the two nations meet on 20th November.
Elsewhere, Blues striker Youssef Chermiti was on the scoresheet for Poland U20s as they beat England 2-1.