England bite bitter Belgian chocolate
The English face a toughter task against Colombia on Tuesday, but have avoided a loaded top half of the draw containing past winners Brazil, France, Argentina and Uruguay as well as European champions Portugal, by finishing second in the group.
Kaliningrad, June 29: England manager Gareth Southgate defended his decision to leave Harry Kane on the bench among eight changes after losing 0- 1 to Belgium to finish runners- up in Group G.
A brilliant strike by Adnan Januzaj six minutes into the second- half set up a Last 16 clash with Japan for Belgium, who also made nine changes with qualification for the knockouts already assured for both sides.
Januzaj suddenly sparked the game into life moments later when he twisted and turned inside the England box before curling a wonderful strike into the top corner.
England appear to face a toughter task against Group H winners Colombia on Tuesday, but have avoided a loaded top half of the draw containing past winners Brazil, France, Argentina and Uruguay as well as European champions Portugal, by finishing second in the group.
“If we put Harry on for 10 minutes and someone whacks him on the ankles that would be ridiculous,” said Southgate when questioned why Kane, the tournament's top scorer with five goals wasn’t even introduced from the bench.
England haven’t won a knockout game at a tournament since 2006 and Southgate insisted he had to seek every possible advantage ahead of what he described as the Three Lions’ “biggest game for a decade. “We tried to take as much of an advantage as we could on a physical level. Whatever happens next week that was the right decision,” he added.
“People will say ‘ it’s only the right decision if we win’ but it’s the right decision because we’d be going into a match that could go into extra time and risking players we didn’t need to risk,” he said.
The fact second place in the group was no disaster seemed to be a big factor in both coaches’ team selection with their places in the Last 16 already secured.
Star Belgian duo Eden Hazard and Kevin de Bruyne joined England skipper Kane in watching from the sidelines and their ability to thrill was badly missed as locals in the crowd turned on both sides with jeers.
Youri Tielemans did test Jordan Pickford with a fiercely struck effort just six minutes in that forced the Everton stopper into his best save of the World Cup so far.
Moments later Pickford let a Michy Batshuayi effort squeeze past him and was rescued by Gary Cahill’s goal- line clearance.
After an early burst, though, Belgium seemed more adept at picking up yellow cards that would have seen them finish behind England if the game ended in a draw due to a poorer disciplinary record.
Tielemans and Leander Dendoncker both went into the book early to cheers from the Belgian fans.
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