England break national team winning record with Nations League victory over Finland

England broke a national team winning record with their 3-1 triumph over Finland in League B Group 2 of the UEFA Nations League on Thursday evening.

The Three Lions travelled to Helsinki under pressure to respond to Thursday’s humiliating 2-1 loss to Greece at Wembley, which left them three points adrift of the Pirate Ship at the top of the standings.

With Greece not in action against the Republic of Ireland until later in the evening, Lee Carsley‘s troops had the chance to temporarily go level with the 2004 European champions at the summit by atoning for their midweek misdemeanours.

The visitors to Helsinki did exactly that, as Jack Grealish drew first blood in the opening period before a brilliant Trent Alexander-Arnold free kick and Declan Rice finish wrapped up the points.

Carsley’s men still unnecessarily lost their clean sheet when Arttu Hoskonen headed in a late consolation, but they nevertheless put in a much-improved display from Thursday evening and made history in the process.

England make it 13 games unbeaten against Finland

© IconSport

England have now gone unbeaten in their first 13 meetings with Finland across all competitions, the most that they have ever faced a particular opponent without ever suffering a single defeat.

Prior to the weekend’s game, England had faced both Finland and Bulgaria 12 times without ever losing, but Sunday’s triumph made it 11 wins and two draws from 13 matches against the Scandinavian nation.

The Three Lions also conquered Markku Kanerva‘s side 2-0 last month, where captain Harry Kane scored both goals on his 100th appearance, and the Bayern Munich forward was one of six new players brought into the XI on Sunday.

While Kane struggled to make an impact upon his return, Grealish and Angel Gomes both made their presence felt, as Carsley went back to a tried-and-tested setup after a failed midweek experiment with no recognised number nine.

As expected, Carsley was disappointed to see his side concede a late goal far too easily – as Hoskonen got to the near post to meet a corner and head home – although he could take the positives from the reaction overall.

Carsley: ‘I’m still figuring out how England respond to setbacks’

© Imago

“We were looking for a reaction and this is only four games into it so I’ve still not quite worked out how the team respond to setbacks,” Carsley told ITV Sport at full time.

“But they’ve responded in the best way tonight. Scored three good goals but disappointed to concede at the end. We had a lot more control, massive possession, lots of passes and created a lot of chances.

“But we can still be better. The way Finland set up they were well organised with five at the back. When you have that amount of possession you’re always going to get chances at 70 minutes onward and the subs made an impact.

“Dean [Henderson] has done really well. Shame we couldn’t see the game out with a clean sheet. We made a few changes and maybe lost our roles in the set play.”

England’s last two Nations League fixtures of the 2024-25 group stage see the Three Lions head to Greece on November 14 in a top-of-the-table clash, before hosting Ireland in the finale three days later.

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