Foden At The Double As England Beat Iceland

Phil Foden continued the scoring spree of City’s international stars as he bagged a brace during England’s 4-0 beating if Iceland. The midfielder was making his first Three Lions start and struck twice in four minutes late in the match to complete a comfortable win for England.

Foden had been recalled to the squad after he and Mason Greenwood had been sent home from Iceland in September for breaking Covid-19 rules, but the youngster had learnt his lesson and took his chance in the first team in impressive style.

The 20 year old had set up Declan Rice for his first goal in an England shirt in the 20^th minute before Mason Mount made it 2-0 four minutes later. But the home side had to wait until the 80^th minute for a third when Foden swept home Jadon Sancho’s pass, before adding hitting his second with a low left foot shot.

The midfielder becomes the youngest player to score two goals for the national side since Bobby Charlton scored a brace at the age of 20 years and 208 days, with Foden scoring his at the age of 20 years and 174 days.

After the match, manager Gareth Southgate expressed his delight for the City man. “I am really pleased for him. He is such an exciting player. It was a big week for him to come back in and, of course, not easy to walk through the door when you left how you did previously.

“But for us, it was done. We knew what he is capable of and it was good to get him into the game against Ireland and to get the two goals today was a glimpse for everyone of what he is capable of.”

Foden said he wanted to repay Southgate for keeping faith with him, saying the incident in September was ‘one of the hardest moments of his life’. “I was just determined to come back and do the best I can,” said Foden.

“Being sent home was one of the hardest moments of my life. That’s the time you need the trust of your manager and Gareth had a lot of respect for me and it means everything to me. I just wanted to repay him with goals and do well.”