England 2 Costa Rica 0: Elland Road regains its status on the international stage

England and Costa Rica have precious little time left for pulling punches but the telling blows came from Gareth Southgate’s players – the best a brutal hit from Marcus Rashford – as a capacity crowd at Leeds United’s stadium waved them off to Russia. Elland Road has mastered the art of serving up a show in the days since the Championship season ended.

Leeds own a very singular ground but it had been largely forgotten in the context of England’s national team, both as a venue for matches and as a direct source of players. There were connections with United’s ever-productive academy today – Danny Rose and Fabian Delph, the latter very much amongst friends in these parts – but the last England squad to play here back in 2002 included three players who were drawing a wage at Elland Road. Southgate played in that friendly too, a 2-1 defeat to Giovanni Trapattoni’s Italy.

The England coach chose to take his players out of London for their last pre-World Cup warm-up game and by engaging with Yorkshire he re-engaged Leeds with a national set-up which rarely concerns them. England flags were laid out on every seat and red and white glowed in the sun. Leeds, having earned nicely from Warrington’s IBF title triumph on an evening when beer flowed as freely as Selby’s blood, pulled in a six-figure sum from the Football Association but were more interested in the prestige of the event. England have gone through 190 fixtures and five coaches since their last appearance at Elland Road. The atmosphere justified another visit soon.

Southgate, whose squad fly to Russia and their World Cup training base near St Petersburg on Tuesday, got what he wanted: a full house and a slick, tidy 2-0 win over a Costa Rica side who have the pleasure of Brazil in Group E and look like the poorest of picks in any office sweepstake.

An England team showing 10 changes from Saturday’s victory over Nigeria, from which only a handful will start their first group game against Tunisia, were too game for Costa Rica, harrying the South Americans before and after the Rashford’s brilliant 13th-minute opener.

The irrepresible Manchester United forward beat Real Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas with an opportunistic shot from wide on the right, taking advantage of a couple of yards of space. Navas realised quickly that he was beaten and could only wave the ball into his net.

For England, Jack Butland started in goal, back at the scene of a loan spell which comprehensively destroyed his World Cup chances in 2014.

Sixteen games for Leeds, where he moved from Stoke City, culminated in 28 concessions at a time when Massimo Cellino was thrashing out a takeover of United and Brian McDermott’s dressing room was falling apart. England ensured that he was rarely in Costa Rica’s line of fire. Jamie Vardy could have added to Rashford’s goal before half-time, denied at close range by Navas, and while Butland dealt with Johan Venegas’ curling effort before the half-hour, the traffic was mostly one way.

Navas thwarted Jordan Henderson’s rising effort early in the second half and Harry Maguire’s effort from the resulting corner was hacked off the line by Bryan Oviedo. The substitutes began coming and one of them, Danny Welbeck, was on hand to dispatch a diving header after Rashford and Dele Alli cut through Costa Rica’s defence. Next stop Russia after a night when Elland Road regained its place on the international map.

England: Butland (Pope 65), Jones, Stones (Cahill 65), Maguire, Alexander-Arnold (Trippier 65), Henderson (Alli 65), Delph, Rose, Loftus-Cheek (Lingard 79), Rashford, Vardy (Welbeck 60). Subs (not used): Pickford, Heaton, Walker, Dier, Kane, Sterling, Young, Lallana, Livermore.

Costa Rica: Navas, Waston, Gonzalez, Calvo, Gamboa (Smith 71), Guzman (Tejeda 69), Borges, Oviedo (Matarrita 60), Venegas (Bolanos 60), Campbell, Urena. Subs (not used): Pemberton, Moreira, Acosta, Duarte, Colindres, Ruiz, Wallace, Azofeifa.

Referee: Hiroyuki Kimura (Japan).

Attendance: 36,104.