Friday’s briefing: England stroll past Wales and priceless win for Scotland

England built on last month’s impressive victory in Serbia with a comprehensive 3-0 win against Wales after a fast start at Wembley – but Thomas Tuchel felt his players deserved more support from the “silent” crowd.

It was, though, all cheers at Hampden Park as Scotland maintained momentum in their promising World Cup qualifying after coming from behind to beat Greece 3-1.

England deliver at “silent” Wembley

England boss Thomas Tuchel felt England’s players deserved more support against Wales as he took aim at the “silent” Wembley crowd following the 3-0 friendly win on Thursday night.

A packed house watched the Euro 2024 runners-up carry on where they left off in last month’s World Cup qualifier away to Serbia – with Morgan Rogers opening his international account just 130 seconds into the game.

Ollie Watkins then put England further ahead and Bukayo Saka brilliantly added a third in the 20th minute.

Wales, though, avoided further humiliation as Craig Bellamy’s men dug in and now turn their attention to Monday’s crunch World Cup qualifier against Belgium.

Despite the convincing performance, Tuchel – whose side returned to World Cup qualifying action away to Latvia on Tuesday – felt the England fans had not warmed to his side’s efforts.

“We had an excellent first half, we were 3-0 up very quickly but could have been four or five up at half-time, then we couldn’t score the fourth one or the fifth one. The stadium was silent. Silent,” Tuchel told ITV.

“We never got any energy back from the fans and I think the players delivered a lot to get more from the fans.

“So, it was difficult to keep everything going in the second half, but we did excellent, we deserved to win. Next step in the right direction.”

Lewis Ferguson off the mark in crucial Scotland win

Lewis Ferguson scored his first Scotland goal as Steve Clarke’s side came from behind to beat Greece 3-1 and maintain their promising start to the World Cup qualifying campaign.

Scotland were outplayed before Kostas Tsimikas fired the visitors into a 62nd-minute lead at Hampden.

But Ryan Christie leveled within two minutes following his own corner and Ferguson marked his 19th cap with a goal 10 minutes from time as Scotland capitalized on another set-piece.

Substitute Lyndon Dykes capped the comeback in stoppage-time as he pounced on a goalkeeping blunder as Scotland kept pace with Group C leaders Denmark and pushed four points ahead of their opponents.

Scotland could move out of sight of Greece on Sunday when they host Belarus and their opponents travel to Denmark.

“The Scottish public should love to have them. They never know when they’re beat,” said Clarke, hailing the character of his squad.

“They want to be remembered as a really successful group of players and hopefully they’re on their way to doing that by getting to another tournament.”

Manchester United consider ‘seat licenses’ at new stadium

Manchester United are considering selling “seat licenses” at their new stadium.

The concept would allow supporters to purchase the right to a specific seat, covering football matches and other events at the arena, for a set period of time.

United unveiled bold plans for a £2billion, 100,000-capacity new stadium to replace Old Trafford in March.

The club are asking for fans’ opinions on the seat licenses idea, which would not replace traditional season tickets, in a new online survey.

All match-going supporters – including season-ticket holders, official members and hospitality-purchasers – are being invited to participate.

Views on a range of other matters, such as pricing, facilities and seating options, are also being sought, with United stressing they are intent on making attending games “affordable and accessible”.

What’s on today?

Northern Ireland continue their World Cup qualifying campaign against Slovakia at Windsor Park.

There are also 2027 European Under-21s Championship qualifiers on Friday – with England away in Moldova, the Republic of Ireland facing Slovakia in Cork and Wales taking on Belgium at Rodney Parade.