England turned on the style in the second half to claim top spot in Group B and set up a second round tie with Senegal, defeating Wales 3-0 thanks to a burst after half time from Marcus Rashford and Phil Foden.
In the other game, the USA secured qualification with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Iran, earning themselves a meeting with the Netherlands in the process on Sunday morning (AEDT).
England will be pleased with their evening’s work: fans had clamoured for Foden to play, and after being left on the bench throughout their bore draw with the USA, and he delivered with a goal, as well as winning a crucial free kick from which Rashford opened the scoring.
Gareth Southgate will have plenty of thinking to do ahead of England’s knockout tie with Senegal: he has long favoured Raheem Sterling as his trusted starter high on the left, but Foden will now be hard to ignore. Moreover, Bukayo Saka has been the go-to high on the left, but Rashford now has three goals in the tournament.
“It’s great for him,” he said of Rashford. “He’s trained really well, I have to say, and he could have had a hat-trick. His free-kick was an incredible strike; that’s what he’s capable of.
“In moments I thought both (Rashford and Foden) were a bit quiet in the first half. We decided to switch them at half-time and they responded really well, and for them to both get their goals was great.”
Wales had to win and hope for a draw in the other game – or win by four themselves – but opted to sit in and frustrate England, with the hope of striking late.
They were relatively successful in the first part, getting to half time unscathed, but it seemed an unsustainable style of play over 90 minutes. Gareth Bale barely touched the ball and was withdrawn at the break with a hamstring complaint.
“It’s very tough to take at this moment in time,” said coach Robert Page. “I thought in the first half we were outstanding – the effort we put in without the ball was exceptional. We could have kept the ball better but I won’t have a bad word said about that group of players; they’ve given everything today.”
Early on, England’s performance had shades of their struggle against the USA. It was all a little slow, with the forwards often disconnected from the midfield. Harry Kane made a chance for Rashford, but Welsh keeper Danny Ward smothered well. There were a few conscious efforts to move the Wales defence around via long switches, but for the most part, it was innocuous ball domination with flashes from set pieces.
Though England’s domination had been sterile in the first half, there was always the feeling that only the slightest ramping up on intent would yield results. Soon after the resumption, that shift came. Foden shimmies through several defenders and was fouled on the edge of the box. Rashford smashed in the free kick with Ward helpless.
Before Wales knew what had happened, they were two down. Ben Davies was pressed high by Rashford, the ball ricocheted to Kane and his low cross presented the simplest chance for Foden at the back post. It was 2-0 and, realistically, game over. The departure of Kane, Kyle Walker and Declan Rice moments later suggest Gareth Southgate thought the same.
There was time for more Marcus magic as Rashford sprung the offside trap on the right wing, cut back inside onto his left and battered a shot through Ward, who might have done better. The Wales keeper did deny Rashford a hat trick with a near post save moments later.
Elsewhere, the USA fought out a 1-0 win over Iran, with a brave goal from Chelsea striker Pulisic the difference between the two great geopolitical rivals.
The build-up had already been fraught, with the backdrop of protests in Iran and a controversy in which the US soccer authorities removed the symbol of the Islamic Republic from the Iranian flag in one of their social media posts, and the tension only ratcheted up when the game began.
Courtesy of their win over Wales, the Iranians needed only to draw, but were unable to breach a USA defence that is yet to concede from open play in this tournament.
The Americans grabbed the only goal, with Pulisic turning home a header from Sergino Dest, careering into Iranian keeper Alireza Beiranvand in the process. The USA’s talisman was forced off at the break as a result, but he had made his impact.
They were also denied a second by the offside flag with Timo Weah pulled back on the most marginal of calls.
The second half was understandably tense but Iran rarely properly threatened to score. A late header from Morteza Pouraliganji went wide and Mehdi Taremi struggled for a bouncing ball with time expiring, forcing a VAR check, but that was as good as it got.
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