Friday night was a special one for Eddie Nketiah as he made his England debut at Wembley against Australia.
Our striker won his first full cap when he was introduced as a 73-minute substitute during the Three Lions’ 1-0 friendly win over the Socceroos, with Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins grabbing the winning goal.
Eddie has now represented his country at every level from under-18s upwards, and scored 35 goals in 38 youth appearances in total, including a record 16 strikes at under-21 level.
He will now aim to make his competitive bow on Tuesday when England host Italy in a Euro 2024 qualifier at Wembley, alongside teammates Declan Rice and Aaron Ramsdale, who were both unused substitutes against Australia.
Also in friendly action on Friday was Takehiro Tomiyasu, who picked up his 35th cap by featuring for 45 minutes of Japan’s 4-1 win over Canada in Niigata.
Tomi’s team were 3-0 up at the break when he was withdrawn before completing a fine win after the restart. They’ll next be in action when they host Tunisia in Kobe on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Karl Hein couldn’t prevent Estonia slipping to a 2-0 home defeat against Azerbaijan in a European qualifier, although Estonia’s chances of reaching the finals had already gone having collected one point from their opening six games.
They now tackle Thailand in a friendly on Tallinn on Tuesday aiming to win their first game since January.
Credit: Arsenal FC
