Sterling steers England to 3-0 win over Ivory Coast

LONDON : England cruised to a 3-0 win over a 10-man Ivory Coast in an international friendly on Tuesday, set on their way by Raheem Sterling who created a goal for Ollie Watkins on his first start for his country and then scored the second himself.

The hosts opened the scoring in the 30th minute when Sterling, wearing the captain's arm band, battled to recover the ball before jinking past Serge Aurier and crossing for Watkins to tap in from close range for his second England goal.

Aurier picked up two yellow cards in quick succession, reducing the visitors to 10 men in the 40th minute, a few minutes before Sterling turned in a cross from Jack Grealish.

Defender Tyrone Mings sealed the win with almost the last touch of the game when he scored with a header from a corner.

England manager Gareth Southgate had made 10 changes from the side that beat Switzerland 2-1 in another friendly on Saturday, giving a first start to defender Tyrick Mitchell as well as Watkins.

(Writing by William Schomberg, editing by Pritha Sarkar)