ENGLAND 2, BELGIUM 2
Jude Bellingham’s last-gasp equaliser saw battling England salvage a draw from the jaws of defeat against Belgium at Wembley.
The Real Madrid star struck with virtually the last kick of an entertaining friendly as England avoided back-to-back losses after being beaten by Brazil on Saturday.
That would have dented morale in the build up to this summer’s finals of Euro 2024, but the manner of the draw felt like a victory.
Ivan Toney scored on his full debut for England either side of a double from Aston Villa’s Youri Tielemans as Belgium looked set to make it four wins in their last five meetings with England.
It was another useful workout for Gareth Southgate’s side with pluses as well as negatives.
There were impressive full debuts for Manchester United’s Kobbie Mainoo and Brentford striker Toney while West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen was also lively.
The worry was at the back where Belgium were gifted both their goals following defensive blunders.
Yes, it was a makeshift back line, but errors of this magnitude in the finals will mean an early exit from the Euros as they cannot afford to be sloppy and slipshod like they were in this friendly.
A delighted Bellingham said: “I liked it. I knew the rubbish we would’ve got if we had lost two games on the bounce. A lot of these lads I’ve never played with before.
Embed from Getty Images“We should be winning with all the chances we’ve made. But these are two games that will stand us in good stead. I know people will be negative, but we have to take the positives.
“You trust everyone that comes into the squad, and they are all in there because they are good players. It’s hard for the gaffer, you plan these games because you expect a fit team.
“I’m sure the manager will be happy with how we played. You’re never happy with a loss or a draw but we have to be happy with how we played.”
On Mainoo’s performance, Bellingham added: “He was good tonight. It’s difficult, I’m speaking like the old head, and I know there’s a clamour [for him to be picked] but he is definitely a brilliant player, and he will have a great future for Manchester United and hopefully for England too.”
Southgate took positives from game, saying: “There were a lot of good creative performances.
“Jude Bellingham had an excellent game, Ivan Toney was very, very good and we freed up Phil Foden and created space for him in the second half.
“James Maddison made a good impact when he came on, and all the changes came on and gave a good impact. Kobbie Mainoo gave a very creative impact and gave us something different.”
There was praise for England battling to the end as Southgate said: “He showed that competitive desire and spirit not to lose which was decisive, but that was also the case for the team after setbacks.
“We had an inexperienced side against a Belgium side which was very experienced.”
England made five changes to the side that began the 1-0 defeat to Brazil at the weekend with Mainoo and Ezri Konsa making their first starts for the Three Lions.
Mainoo, at 18 years and 342 days, became the third youngest Manchester United player to start for England behind Duncan Edwards and Marcus Rashford.
Lewis Dunk, Bowen and Toney also came into Southgate’s starting line-up with Kyle Walker and Harry Maguire injured and Conor Gallagher, Anthony Gordon and Ollie Watkins dropping to the bench while Declan Rice captained the side on his 50th appearance.
Alongside Harry Kane and Kyle Walker, Harry Maguire and Sam Johnstone were both out of tonight’s match while Bukayo Saka, Luke Shaw and Trent Alexander-Arnold were also among the absentees.
While that means others will be given their chance to stake their claim for this summer’s Euros in Germany, it is far from an ideal set of circumstances for the England boss.
“It is an incredible number who are unavailable to us,” Southgate said. “I haven’t experienced that before, but it means there are opportunities for other people.
“You can’t worry about what we haven’t got. You’ve got to move forward. There’s a lot of different reasons for those injuries.
“We’re probably finding out about more players but that’s really helpful. To see all those players against high-level opposition will help us make better decisions moving forward.”
Belgium, again without Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne, made seven changes to the side that began their 0-0 draw against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin on Saturday.
And their line-up has a distinctly Premier League feel to it with Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels, Fulham defender Timothy Castagne, Aston Villa midfielder Youri Tielemans and Arsenal’s Leandro Trossard all retaining their places.
Manchester City winger Jeremy Doku, Everton midfielder Amadou Onana and Roma’s on-loan Chelsea forward Romelu Lukaku were also among those included in Domenico Tedesco’s side.
England were forced into a change inside 10 minutes when John Stones limped off to be replaced by Joe Gomez.
And barely one minute later, Belgium stole ahead after a blunder by keeper Jordan Pickford whose awful clearance fell to Onana whose first touch found Tielemans who rolled home a low shot with the Everton stopper out of position.
England were on level terms within six minutes after Belgium conceded a penalty after former Tottenham defender Jan Vertonghen brought down Toney who picked himself up to score from the spot, his first goal for England.
Pickford made amends for his error by making a smart save low to his left to turn away an angled shot from Doku.
England thought they had taken the lead in the 26th minute but Bowen’s effort was ruled out for offside after a VAR check.
Foden’s corner to the far post was headed back by Rice with Bowen finding the net but the joy at scoring his first England goal was short-lived.
Jude Bellingham missed a sitter blazing over with the goal at his mercy after Belgium were dispossessed playing the ball out from their keeper.
How England were punished for failing to take their chances as Tielemans restored Belgium’s lead in the 36th minute after a counter.
Lukaku was released on the right by a long ball and left Dunk for dead before flighting a delightful cross to the far post where Tielemans found the net with a diving header from inside the six-yard box.
Bellingham brought a fine save from Sels in first half stoppage time as England looked for an equaliser.
England played without names on the back of their shirts during the second half, with the match dedicated as an Alzheimer’s Society International as part of the Football Association’s partnership with the charity.
The aim was to draw attention to how people with dementia lose precious memories, even the names of their favourite football players.
Toney was put clean through by Foden only for his effort to be turned behind by keeper Sels while Bellingham headed wide when he ought to have hit the target.
Foden opened up the visiting defence and threaded a pass to Mainoo whose shot was blocked by Sels.
England made their first change with 16 minutes left as Mainoo was replaced by James Maddison.
England kept knocking on the door with Foden dragging a shot wide from a great position.
There were two further changes with 10 minutes left as Toney and Bowen were withdrawn to be replaced by Anthony Gordon and Ollie Watkins.
England were spared back-to-back defeats by a last-gasp Bellingham goal in the fifth of four added minutes,
Pickford’s long free kick was followed by a bout of head tennis before Maddison cut the ball back for Bellingham to slot home a shot from 12 yards low to the left of Sels.