Watkins, Sterling & Mings score as England ease past Ivory Coast

Ollie Watkins, Raheem Sterling and Tyrone Mings were on target as England beat 10-man Ivory Coast 3-0 at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday night to make it nine games unbeaten.

The Three Lions continue to prepare for the 2022 Qatar World Cup later this year and concluded this March training camp with two great wins - following up their 2-1 win over Switzerland on Saturday with a convincing victory over Les Éléphants. 

In his first start for England, Ollie Watkins put the Three Lions ahead with a tap-in from Sterling's low ball across the six-yard box, with 30 minutes on the clock.

Ivory Coast found themselves down to ten men five minutes before half-time, after former Tottenham defender Serge Aurier was sent off for a second bookable offence.

On the stroke of half-time, Sterling doubled England's lead, sweeping home Jack Grealish’s cross after his initial shot was saved by goalkeeper Badra Sangare.

Gareth Southgate's men were awarded a penalty moments into the second-half, when Fousseny Coulibaly fouled Jude Bellingham inside the box, but the decision was overturned after the referee viewed the pitchside monitor.

Tyrone Mings headed home from a corner in stoppage-time to add deserved gloss to the scoreline.

Since their Euro 2020 final defeat against Italy in the summer, England have gone nine games without losing and today’s fixture marked their last friendly before Qatar 2022, with the next international camp focused on the Nations League in June.

The World Cup action gets under way in November and on Friday, the World Cup draw will take place to let the Three Lions know who their opponents will be in Qatar.

🗣 "I wasn't expecting to be in the squad."

Ollie Watkins admits he has been inconsistent for Aston Villa and understands why he didn't make the initial England squad pic.twitter.com/cYe3Og88ug

— Football Daily (@footballdaily) March 29, 2022