Bellingham comes up clutch at death as England regret unfortunate errors
Jude Bellingham rescued England from their first back-to-back losses at Wembley since 2013 with a lastminute equaliser against Belgium last night.
Errors from Jordan Pickford and then Lewis Dunk gifted the visitors the chances, and Youri Tielemans was the beneficiary both times, first finishing clinically from 20 yards and then getting on the end of a brilliant Romelu Lukaku cross.
Ivan Toney did briefly bring Gareth Southgate’s side back level, converting a penalty he earned for his first international goal, and Jarrod Bowen even thought he had given England the lead with a header, but VAR ruled he was offside.
Those two remained England’s chief attacking threats until both were withdrawn with 10 minutes to go, but it was Bellingham who finally converted one of his hatful of chances in the fifth minute of stoppage time to snatch a draw.
It was a night of experimentation. England started it with five players on single-figure caps on the pitch and lost their most senior player when John Stones’s 71st England appearance ended after only 10 minutes, forced off with an injury. Manchester City will hope news is better than that received by Newcastle’s Lewis Miley on Under-20s duty, now out for six weeks.
A minute after Stones’s departure, Pickford found only his Everton teammate Amadou Onana with a wayward pass and Tielemans was the grateful beneficiary, slotting behind a recovering Pickford.
But his error was cancelled out just six minutes later when neat interplay between Kobbie Mainoo and Bellingham sent Toney through, only for Jan Vertonghen to bring him down.
Toney, who waited
366 days between his England debut and his second cap, was more than happy to wait another two minutes as VAR confirmed the penalty, and showed no nerves in slotting home his first international goal. And England thought they had another first when Bowen nodded in from Dunk’s header back across goal, only for VAR to rule the Hammer had been offside. It was soon 2-1, albeit against England, caught on the counter and another defensive frailty illustrated as Dunk was bullied off the ball by Lukaku, who found Tielemans with a fine trivela cross. Ezri Konsa, shuffled to centre-back in Stones’s place, had failed to notice his 60-yard run to the back post.
Bellingham, who has scored 22 goals for Real Madrid this season, had been uncharacteristically profligate, blazing over from 10 yards in the first half and then timing a free header wrong from even closer.
And as England friendlies often seem to, the air went out of the game in the second half and looked certain to peter out, only for the former Birmingham City boy – who else in 2024? – to score with virtually the last kick of the game.