Connect with us

News

Finland 1-3 England: Rice Scores in Three Lions Victory

Arsenal midfield lynchpin, Declan Rice, was part of the England squad that was embarrassed by Greece in their home turf, and had it all to do in their Nations League clash against Finland.

Unlike the previous England match that saw interim manager, Lee Carsley, setup without a recognized striker, Harry Kane led the line this time and was flanked by Jack Grealish and Cole Palmer, while Jude Bellingham played in the No. 10 role. Rice and Angel Gomes played as the double pivot in midfield.

England dominated proceedings from start to finish and it was no surprise when Grealish opened the scoring with a neat finish after a superb reverse pass from Gomes. Finland had a couple of efforts that were missed with Fredrik Jensen missing a sitter from point blank range. The Vikings were made to pay for their profligacy when Trent Alexander-Arnold, playing in an unorthodox left back role, swung in a beautiful direct free kick that left Finland keeper, Lukas Hradecky, with no chance in Hell to execute a save.

The game was put beyond doubt when Rice trotted forward to poke an Ollie Watkins cut back home to add some gloss to the score line. It was a true striker’s finish from Rice and I’m very sure he savored the moment, scoring yet another goal for his country. His first goal in this season’s Nations League came in the 2-0 win over Ireland.

Declan Rice’s stats against Finland

Rice played 85 minutes for England on the day before he was subbed off and was replaced by Atletico Madrid’s Conor Gallagher. He had a pass accuracy of 96 percent, completing 77 of his 80 passes and a shot accuracy of 100 percent, with both efforts on target. The first effort, which was a long range strike in the 59th minute was a 0.02 xG shot with a xGOT of 0.27. However, his goal in the 84th minute was a 0.51 xG shot with a xGOT of 0.97.

Defensively, Rice won 100 percent of his tackles, made four ball recoveries, won 67 percent of his aerial duels and committed one foul.

It was a standard monster performance from Rice, as we would expect from a player with his sheer quality.

Must See