On a night when torrential rain soaked our national stadium, England took on Serbia in the last home tie of our qualification group and they were looking to continue with their 100% record so far. They did it, although Serbia fought hard before losing to two quality goals.

The match began slowly as the teams felt each other out but gradually England began to dominate possession and on 11 minutes a cross from Morgan Rogers was only just cut out from the other home forwards racing in. With the weather as it was it was a night for errors, and following a good move Rogers miscued an attempted pass to Harry Kane and the chance was lost. With the ball looking like something out of 101 Dalmations, control was tricky as the ball skidded on the very wet surface. But the English pressure was gradually increasing and on 17 minutes Bukayo Saka picked up possession on the right and cut inside looking for that customary shot with his left foot. This time though, the shot flew high and wide of the goal.

Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson are beginning to strike up an exciting partnership in the midfield with both players working their socks off to win back lost possession and put more pressure on the visiting defenders. They won a corner which came to nothing and then on 23 minutes Jordan Pickford suffered a knock, which gave the manager the chance to speak to his players. It had been a lukewarm sort of match so far. On 25 minutes though, debutant left-back Nico O'Reilly and Marcus Rashford combined well before Rashford's shot was easily saved by Predrag Rajkovic, and maybe Rashford might have done better with what was a good chance. Three minutes later and England broke the deadlock.

Anderson won a free-kick and Rice's kick was fisted out by the keeper. Unfortunately for him the ball went straight to O'Reilly who fired in a shot which was partially blocked. The ball then flew waist high to Saka and with supreme skill he volleyed the loose ball wide of the keeper into the far corner. It was a fine finish and typical of the Arsenal player's form.

Some long passing to the wide men was giving England some good options and stretching the Serbs and Rashford so nearly got past the defender on 34 minutes but Serbia cleared their lines through Strahinja Pavlovic. Meanwhile, England's defenders had to be sharp to clear a dangerous cross from the left, with John Stones, as steady as ever, clearing for a corner.

More good combination play between the impressive O'Reilly and Rashford ended with the Manchester City man seeing his shot pushed round a post by Rajkovic. From the corner, Rice's cross find Kane with a header, and England's record goalscorer was furious with himself as his header bounced down and up and over the bar. That was another good chance missed. A minute from the break, Pickford had to be quickly off his line to block a shot by Filip Kostic after a quickly taken free-kick almost catches England out. A flurry of activity before half-time sees a glancing header by Rogers go just wide after a good cross by Reece James, and the half ends with England clearing another corner from Serbia.

A scrappy start to the second-half is punctuated by Nemanja Gudelj clattering into Anderson, and from another Rice free-kick the ball rebounds to O'Reilly who has another shot at goal. It went wide but he was definitely looking to score on debut. Meanwhile the Serbian team certainly knew how to milk a challenge by going down very easily at times, usually winning free-kicks from the referee. Rogers was once penalized for a slight touch on a defender's chest, who promptly went down clutching his face. Don't you just hate it when players do that, it's known as cheating.

On 62 minutes a chance for Serbia as a cross comes in from Kostic and Dusan Viahovic tries to backheel the ball over the line, but only succeeds in sending it wide. That was a warning and a let-off for England who then had to realise that 1-0 was not a comfortable scoreline. Three minutes later Thomas Tuchel made four substitutions bringing on Eberechi Eze, Jordan Henderson, Phil Foden, and much to the crowd's pleasure, Jude Bellingham, and all four were quickly in the action. Eze immediately put in a dangerous cross and then James put Bellingham through only for his cross to be blocked. The vital pass in the final third was not quite working for England at times, although Foden came close with a header from Henderson's cross. The subs were certainly making their presence felt with both Bellingham and Foden having further efforts on goal.

With ten minutes to go Serbia had a great chance to equalize as substitute Lazar Samardzic shot wide with a similar effort to the Saka goal. It was an end to end frantic finish in the closing minutes as Serbia sensed an equalizer, but then England hit back after Anderson excellent night was over with Adam Wharton coming on for him. Then it was almost number two for England as Bellingham combined with Eze for the latter to hit the bar with a shot. At the other end Pickford had to make a good save from Nemanja Radonjic before finally England did put the game to bed with a second goal. A surge from Bellingham from inside his own half ended with a pass to Foden. He charged towards goal before laying the ball off to his left where Eze hit it first time to curl it into the far top corner. It was a great goal and the relief around the stadium was palpable. A late England corner was cleared and that was the end of the game. Serbia had fought all the way but they were undone by two very classy finishes. So the run goes on and now the England team look to end their qualifying group with a trip to Albania for their final match. However, a trip to the States is now very definite.
  

Source Notes