England took the lead in the seventh minute, Cahill rising above the Nigeria defence from an outswinging Kieran Trippier corner, muscling a header into the top corner from around 10 yards out.

And for the whole of the first half England looked impressive in attack, the attacking quartet of Raheem Sterling, Kane, Dele Alli and Jesse Lingard combining neatly and rapidly to slice through the Nigeria defence pretty much whenever they liked.

The lead was doubled not long before the break, when Sterling slipped a pass to Kane on the edge of the box. Kane shot with power but more or less straight at Francis Uzoho in the Nigeria goal, who seemed to mistime his dive and let the ball bounce in off his knee.

Nigeria emerged from half-time looking like a different team, and they pulled a goal back after only two minutes: Odion Ighalo shot against the post, it rebounded straight to Alex Iwobi and the Arsenal man tucked his effort into the corner.

Occasionally justified criticism of Sterling, it's easy to forget what actually matters, which is how he plays on the field.
Sterling scored 23 times for Manchester City last season, comfortably his best campaign and a tally that accounts for a little more than a third of his career goals. Pep Guardiola's faith and coaching have turned him into an expert wide poacher, Sterling so many times arriving at just the right time to finish so many of City's dizzying, rapid moves.

But it's been a different story for England. This was his 38th appearance for the national team, and he's scored only two goals. The last of those was in October 2015, against Estonia in a Euro 2016 qualifier.

There are the obvious caveats that he has not always played in his favoured position, and scoring a hatful of goals when Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva are providing the key ball is much easier than when, well, pretty much anyone else is.

Player Ratings

England: Pickford (7), Trippier (7), Young (7), Walker (6), Stones (6), Cahill (9), Lingard (7), Dier (7), Kane (7), Sterling (7), Alli (7)

Subs: Rose (6), Delph (6), Loftus-Cheek (7), Rashford (6), Welbeck (6)

Nigeria: Uzoho (6), Idowu (6), Troost-Ekong (6), Balogun (6), Onazi (6), Mikel (7), Obi (6), Abdullahi (6), Ighalo (7), Moses (7), Iwobi (

Subs: Ebuehi (6), Omeruo (6), Etebo (6), Ogu (6), Musa (6), Iheanacho (6)

Man of the match: Gary Cahill

Click here and read more:http://jumiaforum.com/