Match Summary

England Team

Belgium Team

It was pretty much expected that manager Gareth Southgate would make changes for, what was effectively a 'dead rubber' against Belgium in this final group match.  Both teams had already qualified for the knockout stage, and the only thing left to settle was who would finish top and who would finish second?  When the teams were announced it was as expected, although maybe not to the extent it was.  This match was labelled England reserves v Belgium's reserves with both sides making many changes!

It was a poor game in many ways and there were glimpses of the old, frustrating England, as the players failed to gel.  Belgium were the better side, but not that much better, and England’s fans were left rather deflated at the end.

England started positively though and in the second minute Jamie Vardy latched on to a poor back pass and drilled a low and hard centre into the goalmouth.  Chelsea goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois, had to kick the ball away in desperation, but it was a promising attack.  Unfortunately though, England could not build on that moment and it was the Belgians who went close four minutes later.  Nobody closed down Youri Tielemens and the number 17 fired in a dipping shot which Jordan Pickford saved at full stretch but could only parry the ball back out into the danger area, instead of over the bar where it should have gone.  Belgium were looking dangerous when they attacked and Marouane Fellaini was a constant threat.  On ten minutes he headed the ball down in the goalmouth, and following a scramble only a clearance off the line by Gary Cahill saved the day.

England came back and forced several corners.  Trent Alexander-Arnold took over the Kieran Trippier role of dead ball kicker, but nothing substantial came from these kicks.  However, from one good cross from the Liverpool man, Vardy headed wide as England searched for a breakthrough.  Both teams seemed to be playing a similar style and in many ways it was a typical Premier League match.  England did look for the long ball over the top a bit more often than they had in their previous games, but none of the passes were good enough.  Belgium incurred the wrath of the referee on a couple of occasions with Fellaini badly fouling Ruben Loftus-Cheek and then Tielemens was booked for a foul on Danny Rose.  That booking could have proved crucial if the scores had stayed level.

As the half progressed things began to hot up with both sides creating chances.  Alexander-Arnold's free-kick was scrambled away and then John Stones did well to block a shot by Michy Batshuayi, and following a scramble Alexander-Arnold blocked another Belgian shot.  There was no lack of effort from the England players, just nothing like the urgency of their previous outings.  Eric Dier chose to pass instead of having a shot, Marcus Rashford tried to burst through and then Loftus-Cheek and Alexander-Arnold played a one-two, but again the cross was poor and came to nothing.  Leander Dendoncker was the second Belgian player to be booked, for another foul on Rose, and on 34 minutes Loftus-Cheek headed a corner narrowly wide.  At the other end Fellaini was the obvious target for Belgium and he always caused the England defenders problems  But the deadlock was not broken before the break and the players went off with a goalless scoreline.

It seemed that something was missing from all areas of England’s play, but the bigger picture had to be recognised and it was valuable game time for the players on the fringes.

At the restart Southgate brought on Harry Maguire for Stones, who had taken a knock, and the half opened with plenty of Belgian possession.  However, Vardy quickly nipped in to win the ball and send Rashford away with a chance.  He tried to curl a shot wide of Courtois, but it also curled wide of the far post.  With five minutes of the half gone, Belgian took the lead.  Poor defending by England allowed former Manchester United player Adnan Januzaj the freedom to cut inside and unleash a left-foot shot into the far top corner.  It was a good finish but England made it easy for him.

England came again and Loftus-Cheek burst inside to be brought down.  The free-kick though, not for the first time, was wasted.  After 55 minutes Januzaj went close again after a quick breakaway, and at this point Belgium were in control of the match with England showing very little.  When the ball did go into the Belgian area there were far too often just a single England player making an effort to get there.  Having said that, Rashford had a golden chance to equalise on 66 minutes.  Vardy again spotted the opening and Rashford was clean through one-on-one with the keeper.  He had an option of a tap to his right for Loftus-Cheek to have an open goal, but instead Rashford went for the shot and Courtois managed to touch it behind when really he should have had no chance.

Danny Welbeck came on for Alexander-Arnold and Rashford shot over when he tried a free-kick.  Welbeck then had a clear chance blocked and several times Rose worked the ball down the left for a good cross only to find nobody on the end of it.  And Rose was unlucky when a quick free-kick found Welbeck in a good position, but he was caught out by the speed at which the ball came to him.  Belgium had two more chances in the last couple of minutes when first Dries Martens tried a shot which Pickford again patted back into the danger area.  Luckily he got away with it, but that is something he must work on surely?  Fellaini then hit the side-netting when cutting in from the left.  The game petered out after that and England had to be content with the runners-up spot.  That may not be so bad, but it would have been nice for us to beat the Belgians.

We now go on to face Colombia, with hopefully our full-strength team back in place.  It is possible to sort of understand what Southgate was trying to do with all the changes, only time will tell, but it was difficult to be positive after, what was in effect a poor performance which ended a long unbeaten run for England.  The one thing that was definitely worth reporting though, was the way both teams played fairly and without the histrionics seen in many of the other group games.  For once in this tournament the referee had an easy game.
  

TheFA.com BBC Sport

FIFA.com Mike Payne - football historian and contributor