With a lot of players missing through injuries, Gareth Southgate was forced to rotate the squad significantly for the Belgium friendly.
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England came from behind twice to get a last-gasp draw against Belgium in an international friendly. The Three Lions entered this contest on the back of a 1-0 loss to Brazil in their last game at the weekend. Even though friendlies are not always about the results, Southgate and his players would have been keen to avoid defeat in back-to-back games. However, the injury situation made it a lot harder for the home side heading into this clash.
With a lot of players missing through injuries, Gareth Southgate was forced to rotate the squad significantly for the Belgium friendly. It provided an opportunity for fringe players to show their abilities. The home support saw their side go behind to an early opener from Youri Tielemans but Ivan Toney equalised for the hosts from the penalty spot soon after. Tielemans once again put the visitors in front in the first half.
England pushed hard and created some chances but had to patiently wait for their turn to get the equaliser. Real Madrid sensation Jude Bellingham scored to make it 2-2 deep into stoppage time to salvage a draw for the Three Lions. Speaking after the game, the midfielder was happy to avoid successive defeats. “Yeah I liked it because I know the rubbish we would have got if we lost two games on the bounce,” Bellingham, quoted on skysports.com, said after the fixture.
He added: “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 (this week) and a lot of lads I’ve never played with. We created a lot of chances. I should have scored (previously). I was happy I could make it up to the team.”
Bellingham showed sympathy towards his manager by pointing out the massive number of players missing from the squad through injuries. “Of course it’s hard for the gaffer, people need to realise how hard it is. You come into these games expecting a fully-fit team and expect to give it a really good crack,” added the midfielder. It’s a really difficult one for us, but I’m sure he’s glad with the players he got to see over the two games. I’m never happy to lose or draw but we’ve got to be happy with how they’ve played,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Jarrod Bowen felt that the team could have got more than a point from the game. “We did leave it late and kept everyone on their toes. It shows the resilience in the squad. We would’ve been disappointed with two defeats from two games and that’s not the standard we have set. Today we deserved more than a draw, but we kept fighting and got there in the end. Everyone played their part. Madders [substitute James Maddison] played the ball to Jude [for the equaliser] so it’s not just about the starting 11. A lot of players have played [in the past two games] and everyone has looked at ease,” the West Ham winger told Sky Sports News.
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