England v Czechia: Nations League football – live

• Nations League updates from the 7.45pm BST kick-off
• Live scores | Read today’s Football Daily | And mail Scott

Some slapstick shenanigans on ITV as the Wembley water sprinklers turn on Ian Wright, Roy Keane and Mark Pougatch as Wright is mid-soliloquy in praise of Jude Bellingham. It’s not quite up there with your Harry Redknapp and Martin Keown touchline classics, but mildly entertaining nonetheless. Wright doesn’t look particularly amused, and tries to style it out by joking about all his wasted prep for the Bellingham bit, though his light-coloured suit now has moist patches, and one suspects he’s more concerned about the spatter than his patter. Keane remains admirably unperturbed, though you’d still pay cash money to witness any back-and-forth that may occur with the Wembley groundsman later on.

There’s a better-than-evens chance of England effectively qualifying for March’s quarter-finals tonight. Should they – as expected – beat Czechia, and should Spain – as expected – see off Croatia, England would find themselves comfortably in second spot on nine points, with the Croats in third on three. That wouldn’t put the Three Lions officially over the line, but Croatia would then only be able to at best tie England on points by the end of the group phase in November; in that scenario, it’d then go to the head-to-head, and the only way Croatia could win that is if they’d beaten England by an eight-goal margin at Wembley. Fair play if all this comes to pass.

Continue reading...