Rice scores and Madueke assists in England win | International | News

Declan Rice scored and Noni Madueke provided an assist in England’s 2-0 victory over Andorra as four of our players started for the Three Lions.

Rice, Madueke, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ebere Eze lined up for Thomas Tuchel’s team at Villa Park as England looked to move a step closer to qualifying for the World Cup next summer.

It took 25 minutes to open the scores as Christian Gonzalez put Noni’s dangerous cross into his own net. Our England players continued to shine, with Ebere going close on 49 minutes, but his effort was well saved by Iker Alvarez. Rice settled the contest on 67 minutes when the midfielder turned in Reece James’ cross. 

Declan made way for Tino Livramento on 68 minutes with Ebere being replaced by Morgan Gibbs-White on 78 minutes. The result leaves England five points clear at the top of Group K as they head to second-placed Serbia on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, Viktor Gyokeres provided an assist in Sweden’s dramatic 2-2 draw with Slovenia in Ljubljana.

Newcastle United’s Anthony Elanga opened the scoring for the visitors before Sandi Lovric equalised shortly after half-time.

Viktor then set up Yasin Ayari, bringing a cross down into the path of the Brighton midfielder who slotted home to give Sweden the lead on 73 minutes. But the hosts would level on 90 minutes, courtesy of Zan Vipotnik’s effort.

Riccardo Calafiori played the full 90 minutes in Italy’s 5-0 rout of Estonia in Group I. After a goalless first half in Bergamo, Moise Kean set the Azzurri on their way with his goal on 58 minutes. 

Italy then netted four times in the final 20 minutes as Mateo Retegui scored twice to add to goals from Giacomo Raspadori and Alessandro Bastoni in a comfortable victory. The four-time World Cup winners find themselves three points behind Martin Odegaard’s Norway at the top of Group I.

In under-21 action, Cristhian Mosquera played the full 90 minutes as Spain kept a clean sheet in a 3-0 victory over Cyprus U21. 

In the opening match of Euro U21 qualifying, Rafael Obrador, Yarek Gasiorowski and Pablo Garcia found the net to put the young Spanish side into second place in their group. The top side from each group will qualify for the finals in Albania and Serbia in 2027.

Read more

Internationals: Merino and Zubimendi shine

Thursday, September 4 
Norway 1-0 Finland
Friendly | Odegaard played 45 minutes

Liechtenstein 0-6 Belgium
World Cup qualifier | Trossard played 23 minutes as a substitute

Bulgaria 0-3 Spain
World Cup qualifier | Merino scored, Zubimendi assisted, Raya an unused sub

Netherlands 1-1 Poland
World Cup qualifier | Timber an unused sub

Gibraltar 0-1 Albania 
Friendly | Kacurri played the full 90 minutes

Friday, September 5
Paraguay 0-0 Ecuador
World Cup qualifier | Hincapie played full 90 minutes

Brazil 3-0 Chile
World Cup qualifier | Gabriel played full 90 minutes, Martinelli played 72 minutes

Spain U21 (Mosquera) 3-0 Cyprus 
Euro U21 qualifier | Mosquera played full 90 minutes

Italy 5-0 Estonia 
World Cup qualifier | Calafiori played full 90 minutes

Slovenia 2-2 Sweden
World Cup qualifier | Gyokeres played full 90 minutes, provided an assist

Saturday, September 6  
England 2-0 Andorra
World Cup qualifier | Rice scored and Madueke assisted. Eze and Lewis-Skelly also started at Villa Park

Sunday, September 7 
Lithuania v Netherlands (Timber) 
World Cup qualifier | Kaunas | 5pm

Belgium v Kazakhstan (Trossard) 
World Cup qualifier | Brussels | 7.45pm

Turkey v Spain (Raya, Merino, Zubimendi) 
World Cup qualifier | Konya | 7.45pm

Monday, September 8 
Kazakhstan U21 v England U21 (Nwaneri)
Euro U21 Qualifier | Pavlodar | 4pm

Israel v Italy (Calafiori) 
World Cup qualifier | Debrecen, Hungary | 7.45pm

Kosovo v Sweden (Gyokeres) 
World Cup qualifier | Pristina | 7.45pm

Tuesday, September 9  
Kosovo v Spain U21 (Mosquera)
Euro U21 qualifier | Pristina | 6pm

Norway v Moldova (Odegaard) 
World Cup qualifier | Oslo | 7.45pm

Serbia v England (Lewis-Skelly, Rice, Eze, Madueke) 
World Cup qualifier | Belgrade | 7.45pm

Albania (Kacurri) v Lativa
World Cup qualifier | Tirana | 7.45pm

Wednesday, September 10 
Ecuador (Hincapie) v Argentina
World Cup qualifier | Guayaquil | 12am

Bolivia v Brazil (Gabriel, Martinelli)  
World Cup qualifier | El Alto | 12:30am

 

Copyright 2025 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.

Continue Reading