NO REPEAT FOR BEATEN LIONS
ENGLAND CAN’T DO IT AGAIN AS BELGIUM END THEIR CAMPAIGN
BELGIUM proved too good for England in Leuven last night as the world’s top-ranked side ended Gareth Southgate’s hopes of reaching a second successive Nations Cup finals.
The Three Lions, who came from a goal down to beat the Belgians 2-1 at Wembley last month, could not repeat the trick as first-half goals from Youri Tielemans and Dries Mertens carried the combative hosts to a 2-0 victory.
England captain Harry Kane won his 50th cap and Jack Grealish was handed his first competitive start as Southgate made eight changes from the side that brushed aside Republic of Ireland 3-0 in a friendly last Thursday.
Eric Dier replaced the suspended Harry Maguire in a three-man defence which also included Kyle Walker but it was the Tottenham man, who suffered an injury scare in the warmup, who was at fault for the opening goal.
11
Years since England were last two down at the break, the previous time being against Holland in 2009 – they drew that one 2-2
Dier’s loose pass allowed Romelu Lukaku to feed Tielemans and he beat the recalled Jordan Pickford via a slight deflection on ten minutes.
England, missing Raheem Sterling due to a late injury, responded with Kane’s header cleared off the line by Lukaku just after a fine Toby Alderweireld block had denied the impressive Grealish. But having gone close to an equaliser, they conceded again as Mertens curled a delightful free-kick over the England wall and into the corner of the net.
Jan Vertonghen blocked from Mason Mount but Southgate’s men suffered another blow when Ben Chilwell went off injured.
Kane worked himself a shooting chance just before the hour but failed to get enough power to trouble Thibaut Courtois.
Belgium seemed intent on disrupting the visitors with some rustic challenges, Axel Witsel, Alderweireld and Thomas Meunier all booked.
Southgate introduced Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Jadon Sancho with 20 minutes left but it was the hosts who went closest to scoring again as a fine move ended with Lukaku shooting straight at Pickford.