In a thrilling encounter, Jude Bellingham’s stoppage-time goal afforded England a commendable 2-2 draw against Belgium at Wembley on Tuesday. Youri Tielemans’ two goals had almost led Belgium to a unexpected win in this exciting friendly match. Tielemans scored his first goal in the 11th minute taking advantage of England’s goalkeeper, Jordan Pickford’s flawed clearance, while Ivan Toney equalled the score soon after with a penalty in his debut international start.
Looking nothing like the team that had previously been defeated by Brazil, England initially had a goal by Jarrod Bowen dismissed because of offside and wasted various opportunities before another defensive blunder enabled Tielemans to recover the lead with a tidy header towards the end of the first half following an excellent cross from Romelu Lukaku.
In the second half, England remained aggressive with Toney, Phil Foden, and the extraordinary 18-year-old Kobbie Mainoo almost closing the gap thanks to detailed build-up play. However, it was Bellingham who made the difference with a goal at close range in the fourth minute of stoppage-time.
In other news, Scotland’s struggles continue as their winless streak stretched to seven games due to a disappointing 1-0 friendly loss to Northern Ireland at Hampden Park. Liverpool’s Conor Bradley flicked the only goal of the match for Northern Ireland 32 minutes into the game. Despite developing their game in the second half, Scotland failed to crack the persistence of Michael O’Neill’s team, who haven’t tasted victory at Hampden in nearly half a century. Scotland, now on its longest winless streak since the period from August 2004 to March 2005, is set to face Gibraltar and Finland in June friendlies ahead of their Euro 2024 opener against host nation Germany at the Allianz Arena.