England’s oldest rivals Scotland bring a better performance in terms of result when they face off at Wembley stadium in the second round of fixtures.
The England-Scotland football rivalry dates back to 1872 which makes it the oldest international fixture in history, and I am excited to see this rivalry pan out this Friday! The last three of four fairly recent fixtures have gone in favour of the Three Lions leaving the confidence in the camp of Gareth Southgate, and with England netting 11 goals in those four fixtures it is hard to make an argument against full confidence for an English team. Let’s get right into the two nations and what they bring to the table.
Euro 2020: Group D
Friday 18 June
Wembley Stadium
To Win
England 1/3
Draw 34/10
Scotland 7/1
England
A little bit of history was made with England’s first ever victory in an opening game of the European Championships. Media has been in full praise to England for their win over Croatia, but there is still a lot of work to do.
Some key figures like Phil Foden and Harry Kane were a no show in their last outing with the Manchester City youngster even being called to the bench by Southgate.
Whilst others like Kalvin Phillips and John Stones were putting their best foot forward taking the English to three crucial points. Gareth’s choices in this matchup will be crucial and he will have to make it work again proving many football fans who discredit him wrong.
Scotland
The surprise exclusion of arguably the more clinical finishers Che Adams and Ryan Fraser, by Steve Clark was a surprise to many, but against their toughest opponents of the group stages we should see them feature from the first whistle.
The Scotts’ retention of the ball and accuracy when passing was on par with a winning formula for the fixture, as well as creating opportunities for 19 shots at goal.
Captain Andrew Robertson lead by example with a stunning performance, and with Kieran Tierney back in contention behind the captain we are in for another direct and straight to the point game from Scotland.
Prediction: England & Under 2.5 Goals (2/1)
Steve Clarke’s team did well despite their result to Slovakia, and when England welcome them to Wembley after an underwhelming opening fixture for the Three Lions it will turn into a rugged affair. England’s final third attack will be stopped by a rough and tough Scotland defensive line, while Scotland’s attacking play will be thwarted by the cohesion Southgate’s men displayed against Croatia. A game of yellow cards, with a possible red, followed by set piece after set piece is all I see.
