No going back now as Dexit finally completed

This was the day when England and former Republic midfielder Declan Rice found out whether Dexit was really worth all the aggro and, unlike the current political shenanigans haunting London, his strategic exit turned out rather well. The truth is England didn’t really need Rice, whose controversial switch of international allegiance has made so many headlines on both sides of the Irish Sea, to overcome a poor Czech Republic side in a Euro 2020 Group A qualifier at Wembley, as they sauntered to a 5-0 win, thanks to a hat-trick from Raheem Sterling.

However, his appearance as a 63rd minute substitute went some way to answering the critics even if, for many Republic fans, it must have been hard to watch. It was a day when England, who have already reached the Nations Cup semi-finals in Portugal this summer, again showed the kind of potential that must have made Rice’s switch so tempting. The fact that, despite all the furore surrounding his choice, the West Ham man was never really in contention to start at Wembley rather sums up the quality on offer to manager Gareth Southgate, whose team won at a canter with Harry Kane also on target from the penalty spot and Thomas Kalas adding an own goal.