Jude denies Belgium at the death as Three Lions draw
JUDE Bellingham struck at the death to salvage England a deserved draw against Belgium on a night of impressive auditions in the final match before Gareth Southgate’s Euro 2024 selection.
Three days on from the late loss to Brazil, the absentee-hit Euro 2020 runners-up faced another high-level test as the side third in FIFA’s world rankings hosted the team in fourth.
England were heading for another Wembley defeat after Youri Tielemans punished first-half errors either side of Ivan Toney’s penalty, only for Bellingham to secure a 2-2 draw in stoppage time.
Toney did well on his first start, as did fellow full debutants Ezri Konsa and, in particular, 18-year-old Kobbie Mainoo.
England suffered a miserable start to the evening in the pouring rain as John Stones limped off injured inside 10 minutes, just moments before Belgium took the lead.
Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford looked to play out into midfield from the edge of his box but could only pick out Everton team-mate Amadou Onana, who played the ball forward for Youri Tielemans to take full advantage.
England were awarded a penalty soon after, Mainoo and Bellingham combining before the Real Madrid midfielder fed Toney who was tripped by the experienced Jan Vertonghen. Toney took the resulting spot-kick himself, rolling home to make it 1-1 and toast his first England start with an early goal.
The hosts thought they had taken the lead as Bowen nodded in a Dunk knockdown from Phil Foden’s corner, but the West Ham forward saw his first England goal chalked off by VAR for offside.
Bellingham was then guilty of missing a fine chance after more good work from Mainoo, before another defensive mishap cost England dear.
Dunk failed to deal with a long ball over the top and Belgium captain Romelu Lukaku pounced, crossing brilliantly for Tielemans to head Belgium 2-1 in front.
England responded impressively after the break but looked set to fall short until Bellingham’s stoppagetime strike.
Bellingham was pleased to spare his side any “rubbish” from their critics after snatching the 2-2 draw.
Speaking to Channel 4, Bellingham said: “Yeah I liked it because I know the rubbish we would have got if we lost two games on the bounce.
“These are two games that are going to stand us in good stead going into the Euros. I know people will be negative but you have to take these games for what they are.
“You’ve got to keep perspective. We had a lot of lads making debuts and a lot of lads I’ve never played with. We created a lot of chances.”