England came back from a goal down to defeat neighbours Wales 2-1 in a group B encounter of the UEFA Euro 2016. Wales opened the scoring through a Gareth Bale free kick in the 42nd minute, which in all honesty, should have been saved by Joe Hart.
The Three Lions came out all guns blazing in the second half as Roy Hodgson brought in Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge. Both the substitutes scored a goal each, Vardy in the 57th minute and Sturridge in the injury time to send England fans into ecstasy.
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Here’s how each player fared in the match.
England
Joe Hart – 4/10
The English goalkeeper was pathetic, to say the least. The free kick which Gareth Bale scored of must’ve been an easy one to control for majority of the goalkeepers out there, but the Manchester City shot-stopper managed to palm it in the goal itself.
Danny Rose – 5.5/10
The Tottenham fullback had an average game and despite spending majority of the match in attacking half, he did not do anything of substance.
Gary Cahill – 6/10
Cahill partnered up well with Smalling and did well to not allow Wales a clear goalscoring chance.
Chris Smalling – 6/10
The Manchester United defender had a shaky start to the match and made a couple of mistakes in the first half itself. He also headed a cross just wide of the post.
Kyle Walker – 5.5/10
Like Rose, Walker was a continuously making forward runs but he spent a lot of time on the ball when he should have crossed and ended up giving the ball to the opposition.
Wayne Rooney – 6.5/10
The skipper took some time to come into his own and after the half time, he started to dictate the play from the center of the field. However, he was guilty of misplacing a lot of passes later in the match.
Dele Alli – 6.5/10
Alli gave more of a start-stop performance. While he looked good at some stages, he gave the ball away quite a few times trying to do too much. His link-up play with Sturridge led to England’s winner.
Eric Dier – 6/10
The Tottenham Hotspur man shielded the back four with aplomb and covered for the central defenders if they forayed forward. However, it was his ball distribution that was not up to the mark as many of his passes were over-hit.
Raheem Sterling – 4/10
The former Liverpool winger missed a glorious chance in the early stages of the match and looked clueless as to what to do with the ball on his feet. He was taken off for Daniel Sturridge after halftime.
Harry Kane – 4/10
The Tottenham forward continued his dismal run of performance in the second match as well. He was subsequently taken off for Jamie Vardy at halftime.
Adam Lallana – 5.5/10
The Liverpool man was not as influential as he would have hoped for. He did assist his strikers though and was ultimately taken off for Marcus Rashford in the 72nd minute.
Substitutes:
Jamie Vardy – 8/10
The Leicester star had an instant impact from the bench as he scored within 10 minutes from coming on to score the equaliser. He also played his part in the winner as the link-up play between him, Alli and Sturridge led to the goal.
Daniel Sturridge – 8.5/10
The Liverpool striker came along with Vardy at halftime and played a huge role in the equaliser, putting in the cross which led to the goal after a deflection from Ashley Williams. He then scored the winner for his team after the Three Lions sent waves after waves of attack in the second half.
Marcus Rashford – N/A
The youngster came on for Lallana in the 72nd minute but did not see much of the ball.
Wales
Wayne Hennessey – 5/10
Hennessey was forced into a couple of saves in the second half but could not do much as the Three Lions came from behind and won the match.
Ashley Williams – 5.5/10
Williams had a decent first half, however, he failed to control his header, the rebound of which fell perfectly to Vardy who made no mistake in putting the ball in the net.
Ben Davies – 6/10
Davies tried his best to keep the English attackers at bay, but it was just not enough as the Three Lions scored a late equaliser.
James Chester – 6/10
Chester, like his other two central defensive partners, did all he can to keep England from scoring. However, the amount of pressure that the English players were exerting was a bit too much.
Chris Gunter – 5.5/10
Gunter, placed on the right, was made to sit deep in his own half and did well to restrict Rose from putting in crosses at will. However, he could have done well to stop Sturridge from scoring the winner.
Joe Ledley – 6/10
Ledley was very physically involved in the match and made a couple of decent tackles along with the rough ones. He was taken off for David Edwards in the 67th minute of the match.
Joe Allen – 6/10
The Liverpool midfielder was made to defend for majority of the match, however, he did decently with the ball on his feet.
Aaron Ramsey – 7/10
Ramsey was a menace for the English defense early on and made a couple of good moves. He was restricted to more of defensive work in the second half as England pushed players forward in search of the winner.
Neil Taylor – 5.5/10
The Swansea defender had a decent outing, more so because of the not-so-good performance from the English players stationed on his side of the pitch.
Gareth Bale – 7/10
Bale scored from a free kick yet again, however, it was more of Hart’s inability to stop the shot which led to the goal. The Real Madrid winger did not see much of the ball in the second half and in the end, England proved that they have more ‘pride and passion’ than the Welsh team.
Hal Robson-Kanu – 5.5/10
Kanu had to play second fiddle obviously, behind Bale. He held the ball well but was not heavily involved in the match. He was taken off for Jonathan Williams in the 71st minute.
Substitutes:
David Edwards – 5/10
Edwards came in the 67th minute for Ledley but did not do much to make his manager happy about the substitution he made.
Jonathan Williams – 5/10
Williams came on for Robson-Kanu in the 72nd minute and was restricted to chasing the ball for majority of the time he was on the pitch.
