England coach Thomas Tuchel said he substituted Jude Bellingham during the 3-0 World Cup qualification win against Latvia to prevent the Real Madrid midfielder from being sent off.
Goals from Reece James, Harry Kane and Eberechi Eze secured a comfortable win at Wembley Stadium that took England to the top of Group K and ensured that Tuchel maintained his 100% winning start as coach.
But England could have been forced to play the final half hour with 10 men due to a reckless challenge by Bellingham on Latvia defender Raivis Jurkovskis.
Referee Orel Grinfeeld chose not to caution Bellingham, who had been yellow carded for a similarly rash tackle in the first-half, but with the threat of the 21-year-old making another foul, Tuchel said he made the decision to substitute Bellingham to avoid a potential red card.
“We were a bit lucky,” Tuchel said about Bellingham’s tackle on Jurkovskis. “We had a situation with Jude Bellingham where anything can happen and suddenly have a yellow-red card.
“Then everything could turn upside down, so that’s why I made the change from the bench.
“I think the first one [yellow card] was a bit harsh because he [Bellingham] was dribbling and we suddenly had a yellow card. It felt strange at half-time that we had a yellow and none of our opponents did.
“But the second one was possible [yellow.] It would have been harsh, but straight away we changed him.
Despite the comfortable margin of England’s victory, the game lacked entertainment value due to Latvia’s defensive gameplan.
