ENGLAND C arrived at the Geementelijk Stadion to the sounds of Pat Boone’s Love Letters in the Sand after this they’ll be penning romantic verses of their own for the Russians.
If the coach driver’s CD collection was questionable the Three Lions’ performance was anything but.
Paul Fairclough‘s young guns were immense and Andre Gray’s winner fitting reward for their dominant display.
Now they must hold their breath. Returning from Brussels with three points was a must if England’s International Challenge Trophy adventure is to continue into the semi-finals.
Before Belgium they were sat bottom of the group with just one point, gained against Italy in February. That was followed by a 4-0 defeat in Moscow in early June.
England have done their bit. Russia, who are already through, must do theirs by not losing the group’s final game against Italy when they travel to Rome in November.
“We talked about all the emotions we wanted to feel after the game,” Fairclough said. “We wrote them down on a board.
“The lads came up with all the words ‘feeling successful, feeling proud’ and we needed to find out how we could go about feeling those emotions. They’ve gone out and done exactly what we’ve asked them to do.?
These results around Europe have become a trademark of this England team. Sometimes they don’t get the credit they deserve.
Tireless
Make no mistake, this was a very talented Belgium side drawn from the ever-increasing reservoir of young talent.
They are all under 21, but within that they still had a ball-playing midfielder on loan at Walsall from Premier League Stoke City, Florent Cuvelier, a Birmingham City centre-half, Brice Ntambwe, and Dorian Klonaridis, who Champions League side Lille paid 800,000 pounds for this summer. England’s defence had him in their back pocket like loose change.
From the beginning their play was slick. They passed the ball with precision and suffocated Belgium to steal possession back quickly.
Gateshead‘s Josh Gillies was causing big problems up the right and Lindon Meikle provided energy and thrust on the left.
Stephen Brogan had a good chance and Meikle went close from a tantalising Gillies cross before England’s opening was presented. James Vincent, the Kidderminster midfielder, turned cleverly in the box only to have his legs chopped from under him by Arne Naudts.
Scott Spencer, a tireless worker up front all evening, stepped up for the penalty, waited for Theo Defourny to commit himself early and stroked it the opposite way into the bottom right corner.
Spencer sent a curling effort past the post before Belgium drew level in fortunate circumstances.
Naudts collected the ball 25-yards out, took aim and hit a shot that was destined for Preston Edwards’ arms only for a wicked deflection off Eddie Oshodi that diverted the ball into the goal.
It wasn’t the only low point of the half for England. Forest Green Rovers midfielder Kieron Forbes had an unfortunate clash with team-mate Jamie Turley. Play was held up for nine minutes while he was treated on the pitch and given oxygen before being taken to hospital as a precaution.
When the game did restart, Brogan was denied by a fine save from the impressive Defourny.
Outrageous
Fairclough felt his side had lost some of their fluency towards the end of the first-half and taken to the long ball too often.
That was corrected after the break and the introduction of Gray’s pace gave the hosts another headache to deal with.
More top saves from Defourny prevented Meikle and Spencer making the breakthrough while Vincent and Adam Watkins, on for Forbes, had chances flash wide.
For all of Belgium’s neat play they could never hurt England. While his distribution was excellent, by and large Edwards was a spectator.
The back four of Turley, Oshodi, the particularly impressive Simon Ainge and Aswad Thomas always looked comfortable. Substitute Dylan De Belder got in behind once but his flicked header went wide.
Going forward England kept patient. It can be a virtue and so it proved. A quick free-kick was slipped into Spencer who sent a gorgeous flick around the corner for Gray to steam clear and slot home.
It could have been even more comfortable had Defourny not pulled off an outrageous point blank save when Vincent looked nailed on to make it three.
Over to you Russia, with all England’s love.
