Kane penalty gives England the victory over Switzerland

England came from behind to defeat Switzerland at Wembley with goals from Luke Shaw and a second-half Harry Kane penalty.

There were concerns for Manchester City fans before England’s game even began at Wembley after John Stones was injured in the warm-up meaning that Arsenal’s Ben White took his place in defence. Southgate also handed debuts to Kyle Walkers-Peters and Marc Guehi. 

The Game started cagey until Switzerland made a breakthrough when Xherdan Shaqiri’s cross found Breel Embolo at the far post. The Borussia Monchengladbach player accurately headed down and past Jordan Pickford to give the visitors the lead. 

Embolo’s goal gave Switzerland confidence with Shaqiri having an effort go just wide and Fabian Frei forcing a strong save out of Pickford.

England did draw level just before half-time when Kyle Walkers-Peters intercepted and fed Conor Gallagher in. The Crystal Palace midfielder pulled a pass back to Luke Shaw whose fierce strike beat Jonas Omlin in the Switzerland goal.

With just over an hour gone Southgate made five changes to his team, including giving 22-year old Tyrick Mitchell a debut. The Crystal Palace defender became the 100th player Gareth Southgate has used as England manager. 

The Three Lions were much improved in the second half, although with the kind of intensity you would expect from a friendly played near the business end of the domestic season.

With 75 minutes gone VAR was needed to award England the penalty that would result in the winning goal. Guehi’s header was handled by Steven Zuber in the box and the referee was quick to make his decision after seeing the footage.

Step up Harry Kane, who slotted home the penalty past the reach of the goalkeeper to score his 49th England goal – moving him ahead of Gary Lineker and level with Bobby Charlton in the all-time England rankings. 

It might not have been a vintage performance but it still gave England their first win of 2022.

49 - Harry Kane has now scored 49 goals for England (level with Bobby Charlton), only Wayne Rooney (53) has scored more goals for the Three Lions. Leader. pic.twitter.com/kFrk5gGFYH

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 26, 2022