England 2-2 Belgium
by Layth Yousif
at Wembley Stadium

FUTURE Ballon d’Or winner Jude Bellingham rescued Gareth Southgate’s misfiring England with a last-gasp leveller in front of 80,733 fans at a sodden Wembley Stadium on Tuesday evening.

The world-class Real Madrid star — via Stourbridge — grabbed a draw in the fifth minute of time added on, when only four was announced, as the Three Lions avoided a second defeat on the bounce, following the 1-0 loss to Brazil at the same venue at the weekend.

Perhaps a draw was harsh on a lively Belgian side, propelled by a plethora of Premier League stars — none more so than Youri Tielemans, who grabbed both visitors’ goals, sandwiched in between an Ivan Toney penalty.

Harry Kane, Bukayo Saka, Kyle Walker, Sam Johnstone and Harry Maguire were missing from the squad that Southgate selected before the 1-0 loss to Brazil.

Leaving Southgate to make five changes to the side that began the defeat to Brazil on Saturday evening, with Manchester United’s outstanding starlet Kobbie Mainoo and Aston Villa’s Ezri Konsa making their first starts for the Three Lions. 

Lewis Dunk, Jarrod Bowen and Ivan Toney also came into Southgate’s starting XI, with Kyle Walker and Harry Maguire injured and Conor Gallagher, Anthony Gordon and Ollie Watkins dropping to the bench.

Yet, if you threw in further absentees in Nick Pope, Kieran Trippier, Luke Shaw, Reece James, Marc Guehi, Levi Colwill, Tyrone Mings, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jack Grealish and Callum Wilson it was no wonder the beleaguered Southgate said before the game he had never experienced such a disturbing injury list — 16 long at the last count.

For their part, opponents Belgium made seven changes to the side that started their goalless draw against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin at the weekend.

There was certainly a Premier League feel to their starting XI, with Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels, Fulham defender Timothy Castagne, Aston Villa midfielder Tielemans and Arsenal’s Leandro Trossard all retaining their places. 

While 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.

In a hectic opening under rain-lashed skies in north-west London, Domenico’s visitors went ahead after only 11 minutes via Villa’s Tielemans.

The former Leicester City midfielder clearly savours the big stage, after his wonder goal for the Foxes beat Chelsea to win the 2021 FA Cup final here at Wembley, as the 26-year-old capitalised on a rare error by Three Lions keeper Jordan Pickford. 

Worryingly for Southgate — but perhaps more so, for club boss Pep Guardiola, the opening goal came moments after a disturbing injury to Manchester City’s key defender John Stones that forced him to leave the sodden pitch immediately, to be replaced by Joe Gomez.

The 29-year-old appearing to jar his knee or possibly hip flexor muscle after stumbling — with the clock already ticking for the influential Stones to be fit for Sunday’s blockbuster clash between City and Arsenal.

England — led by Rice, Arsenal’s first England captain since Sol Campbell assumed the armband back in 2005 — showed their quality by finding parity a mere six minutes later,

Brentford striker Toney was brought down in the box by former Spurs defender Jan Vertonghen, leaving Austrian referee Sebastian Gishamer no option but to award a penalty.

Up stepped the confident Bees forward, who made no mistake in sending Belgium keeper Sels the wrong way for 1-1.

Bowen then had an effort ruled out by VAR, shortly before the West Ham attacker fired over.

Bellingham lifted the ball narrowly over the bar not long afterwards as the home side attempted to gain a foothold.

However, Tielemans, who so clearly relishes Wembley, nodded home for his second of the game to make it 2-1 after 36 minutes. The goal coming after clever work from Lukaku.

The former Chelsea striker pressurised Brighton’s normally redoubtable Dunk — who for the second match in a row failed to cover himself in glory in the build-up to an opponent’s goal — as Lukaku gained possession before crossing with the outside of his boot for Tielemans to nod home. Prompting unbridled joy at the other end of the stadium where the thousands of travelling Belgium fans were massed. 

Yet, the build-up to the goal was perhaps not that surprising considering Lukaku had already outmuscled Dunk during Roma’s 4-0 Europa League rout of the Seagulls in Rome earlier this month. 

Toney nearly scored after the interval, but his near post drive was turned away by Belgium’s Forest keeper Sels. Moments later Bellingham angled his header wide — even if the ball in was superbly timed by the impressive Mainoo, looking assured and mature.

With Mainoo pulling the strings in the crucial area in front of the back line, the United youngster also found the time to spark forays forward, with one such endeavour ending when Toney’s clever flick was blocked by Sels.

Mainoo nearly put the seal on such a superb display — and one in such challenging conditions amid a disjointed side affected by injuries no less — by firing the ball at the busy Sels, but the keeper from the City Ground was alert to Mainoo’s effort and the chance was blocked.

Mainoo left the field to a warm round of applause after his excellent performance surely sealed a place on the plane to Germany. What a prospect — yet his maturity and composure means he’s already able to do an important job for England at Euro 2024.

Moments later Foden fired across Sels and narrowly past the far post, as the home side hunted an equaliser. Southgate swapped Toney for Watkins and brought on Gordon with 10 minutes remaining to inject fresh life into the attack — even if this observer firmly believes Toney has done enough to leapfrog Watkins in the pecking order. 

Yet it was the relentlessly troublesome Bellingham who refused to give up, as he grabbed a late goal to make the scoreline 2-2, following good work from substitute James Maddison.

Speaking after the match, Southgate said: “Jude, of course, is the headline. That competitive spirit, that desire not to lose, desire to win in the end, was decisive in getting the late goal [but] very pleased with a lot of what I saw tonight.”

While the match provided more questions than answers as Euro 2024 looms large on the horizon, Southgate will spend many hours this spring shaping a squad that can finally represent the sum of their extravagant talents and win silverware this summer — after so many decades of hurt, not to mention what will be his fourth tournament in charge. 

The time for excuses, nearly men and “what ifs” is over.

Destiny awaits if — and it is as big an if as ever — the best starting XI and squad are fit come June, for the finest England team since 1966.

No pressure then. Over to you, Gareth.