Win shows Southgate’s young guns bright future
England come from behind to beat world’s No. 1 team
GARETH SOUTHGATE believes his England players got a glimpse of what their potential might be as they came from behind to beat Belgium in the Nations League.
The Three Lions recovered from a slow start at Wembley to secure a 2- 1 victory and move top of Group A2.
Romelu Lukaku gave the visitors the lead from the penalty spot after being felled by Eric Dier, after Yannick Carrasco had already had an effort ruled out for off- side, but England went in level at the break as Marcus Rashford converted a spot- kick of his own.
Mason Mount then hit a deflected winner as England beat a team ranked No. 1 in the world for the first time since 2011.
With captain Harry Kane only fit enough for the bench and Raheem Sterling out injured, Southgate fielded a number of his younger stars and feels the experience of beating a side like Belgium will stand them in good stead.
“I think tonight you saw the top- level game where we were able to use the ball well, create chances,” he said.
“I think the penalty came at a critical moment, we had just put a couple of good moves together and we could go in at half time where we needed to regroup.
“Going in at 1- 1 gave a different feel to going in a goal behind and everything feels a bit calmer.
“You don’t get many chances in this level of game, but we did create chances. But defensively you have got to be spot on. You can’t be loose in anyway shape or form.
“The players really took that on board. We had a 20- minute spell where we were getting caught with overloads, with one- twos down the side. Lots of quick decisions had to be made. “But they rode through that. “And, when you think that the front players, plus Declan
[ Rice], plus Trent [ AlexanderArnold] are so young, it is a brilliant experience for them to play against a top team and to go and win it should give them a sense of what might be possible over the next few years.”
Stephen Kenny praised his players’ mettle after the Republic of Ireland squad was stripped of five members on the eve of their Nations League clash against Wales due to coronavirus issues, but drew 0- 0.
The manager endured a prebreakfast scramble to replace those ruled out and suffered a further blow when Stoke winger James McClean was sent off late on at the Aviva Stadium.
Kenny, who is still awaiting his first win as the Republic’s manager, said the players remaining had reacted brilliantly after one unnamed member of the squad tested positive for Covid- 19.
“They are a really good group, they just showed their professionalism by performing to the level that they did,” he said.
Kenny said it had been a difficult time but that paled into insignificance compared to that suffered by the players themselves. Most of them felt perfectly capable of playing and had to suffer the impact of the restrictions, he added.
“I think the players, it just shows a bit of depth to what we are doing at the minute,” said Kenny. “Everyone who played today acquitted themselves really, really well.
“Overall, we could have won the game, it was evenlybalanced, given there were not a lot of chances in the game.”
He said they had the better opportunities despite the wider challenges, adding: “It speaks volumes of the players.”
Welsh manager Ryan Giggs was disappointed. “Our buildup play has to be better but you have to credit Ireland, they pressed well, they are an aggressive and physical side.”