João Félix scores for Portugal; Ben Chilwell impresses for England

It’s hard to think of an easier two-match slate in Euro 2024 qualifying than back-to-back matches against Liechtenstein and Luxembourg, but that’s life in Group J, and Portugal certainly weren’t complaining. (Slovakia, Iceland, and Bosnia & Herzegovina probably won’t either.)

After hanging four on Liechtenstein earlier in the week, Portugal also hit Luxembourg for four, then realized that they had another 45 minutes to go, so they scored a couple more in the second half as well. And this time João Félix got in on the fun, too, and got himself a goal as well — a header, of all things. Yay!

In slightly more challenging circumstances, Ben Chilwell got his first start — first appearance, even! — for England in nearly 18 months, and put in an impressive shift as the Three Lions dispatched an ineffective Mykhailo Mudryk and Ukraine, 2-0.

Harry Kane scored again and Bukayo Saka got a goal and an assist, but many of England’s best moves involved Chilly on the left flank, combining with James Maddison and then Jack Grealish. And he really should’ve had an assist, too, but Conor Gallagher, making another late cameo off the bench, shot straight at the goalkeeper from a cutback late on.

On the plus side, England are now done for this break, so everyone gets a couple days to relax. We’re going to need Chilwell at his best in April!