Tuchel's England cruise past Czech Republic with Gordon and Kane goals

England's Nations League campaign found its footing in Prague on Tuesday evening, a 2-0 victory over the Czech Republic that felt less like a breakthrough and more like a correction. After opening with a loss to Spain—a defeat shaped by three individual mistakes—Thomas Tuchel's side needed a win, and they got one, though the circumstances made the task considerably easier than it might have been.

The match turned decisively in the 25th minute when Pavel Sulc, the Czech Republic's Player of the Year, caught Elliot Anderson with a shin-high challenge that was high and out of control. A VAR review upgraded the initial yellow card to red, and Sulc walked without protest. That moment fundamentally altered what England would face for the remaining 65 minutes: not a competitive opponent but a team forced to defend, to sit deep, to absorb pressure. The empty seats scattered through the stadium seemed to reflect the diminished stakes—a Nations League match between two teams that had already stumbled, watched by a crowd that had somewhere else it would rather be.

Tuchel had made four changes from the Spain game, bringing in Trent Alexander-Arnold, Trevoh Chalobah, Lewis Hall, and Morgan Rogers in place of Jarell Quansah, Ezri Konsa, Nico O'Reilly, and Jude Bellingham. The inclusion of Alexander-Arnold was the most pointed statement: here was a player who had been absent from the World Cup squad, a decision that had drawn scrutiny, now given a platform to demonstrate what Tuchel had apparently overlooked. In the opening half, before the red card shifted everything, both teams had created chances. Morgan Rogers hit the woodwork. Harry Kane struggled to find his feet. Bukayo Saka was denied by a block. The action had substance, even if the competition did not.

Once the Czech Republic went down to ten men, England's task became one of patience and precision. The hosts retreated, packed their defense, and waited. Chances dried up. But Tuchel made a substitution at the interval, bringing Eberechi Eze on for Myles Lewis-Skelly, and within seconds of the restart, England had their opening goal. Anthony Gordon rose to meet a cross from Alexander-Arnold—a delivery that seemed to vindicate the decision to recall him, a reminder of the quality that had been missing from England's right-back position. Gordon's header found the far corner cleanly.

Alexander-Arnold's crossing was the thread running through the second half. Lewis Hall, another player Tuchel had overlooked for the World Cup, sent in a delivery from the opposite flank that Ladislav Krejci turned onto the post, denying Morgan Rogers a tap-in by the narrowest margin. The chances kept coming, the pressure relentless, but England's second goal did not arrive until Kane finished the job with twenty minutes remaining. A low, left-footed effort across the goalkeeper and into the far corner—clinical, decisive, the kind of finish that ends any lingering doubt.

What England had done was win a match they were supposed to win, even if the circumstances—a man advantage for most of the game—made the victory less instructive than Tuchel might have hoped. The performance suggested that the tactical adjustments were working, that the recalled players could deliver, that there was a path forward. But it was a path built on a red card and a depleted opponent, which meant the real test would come next, against a team that could actually fight back.