England’s hopes of qualifying for the Nations League finals were ended by defeat against Belgium in Leuven.
England’s journey to the Nations League finals was terminated after losing out to a clinical Belgium side away in Leuven.
The Three Lions got undone by two early first-half goals from Leicester City’s Youri Tielemans in the 10th minute and Napoli striker Dries Mertens, from a freekick in the 23rd minute.
From then on, the English controlled possession for most of the game but lacked the cutting edge in the final third, with Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish being the only shining light with a fine individual performance.
Having finished third in the inaugural edition in 2019, the loss means England will not progress to the finals this time around.
England host Iceland at Wembley in their final Nations League match on Wednesday.
Reactions to Belgium vs England Nations League match
Roberto Martinez, Belgium manager: “It was a really good game of football, two strong teams who know each other very well and played each other four times since the 2018 World Cup.
“We got the early lead then we had to suffer and see the press and risk that England took. We could not utilize that to our advantage and we defended really well and showed a good focus. That pleases me a lot. You need to give credit to England, they did very well in the second half and pushed us high up.”
Gareth Southgate: “We don’t like losing but enormous credit to the team. All the way through they created problems and defended resiliently. I thought we were excellent. I couldn’t have enough praise for the players.
“We had a different profile of players but in those positions, I thought Jack Grealish had an absolutely outstanding game. Losing Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford, we lose a lot of speed. But I can’t fault the attacking play until the last chance.”
Interesting march with quick goal