England 1 - 0 Belgium: Roy Hodgson’s winning start continues

ENGLAND secured a far from convincing victory over a talented Belgium side on Saturday thanks to Danny Welbeck’s first international goal in just his second start.

The Manchester United striker netted in the 36th minute after being fed by his Old Trafford clubmate Ashley Young.

“It was a good piece of work from the two front players,” said manager Roy Hodgson, who has now overseen successive 1-0 victories from his two games in charge. “They worked well together to pressurise the Belgium defence. “When Ashley played him in I thought he showed remarkable calmness to keep his head on his left foot and chip it over the goalkeeper [Simon Mignolet].”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Becoming the youngest England goalscorer – at 21 years and 189 days – since Theo Walcott in 2008 could help Welbeck’s chances of filling the void left by Wayne Rooney when his Manchester United teammate is suspended for the France and Sweden games at Euro 2012.

Rooney replaced Welbeck early in the second half to make his first appearance under Hodgson after shaking off an apparent toe injury. Jermain Defoe then came on for Young to work in tandem with Rooney, hitting the post late on as he was deployed by Hodgson for the first time. Andy Carroll didn’t feature after leading the strike force in Norway.

While Hodgson stuck with the central midfield partnership of captain Steven Gerrard and Scott Parker against Belgium, teenager Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was given a first start on the left wing. James Milner, on the right flank, was one of only four players retained by Hodgson from the starting line-up against Norway.

The 18-year-old Oxlade-Chamberlain made a determined start, getting plenty of possession in his second England appearance a week after his debut. “I thought he did some very good things,” Hodgson said. “But we will have to keep working on what we expect from him.”

Despite scuffing an early shot over the bar as he slipped, the speedy Arsenal player came closer after being teed up by Welbeck, just striking over.

In a physical contest littered with fouls, Belgium, who didn’t qualify for the Euros but are in Scotland’s World Cup qualifying group, fell behind after Gerrard won possession on the halfway line and set Young free on the counter-attack from which Welbeck scored.

But the Belgium threat persisted throughout as the English struggled to impose themselves, with Guillaume Gillet’s rising shot hitting the post in the second half.

“There is certainly a lot of work we need to do on our shape offensively,” Hodgson said. “Sometimes when we have got the ball we are too wide in the wide areas and not making enough of getting the ball into those pockets behind the midfield players, but it is something we are working on. But I am pretty happy really with the defensive shape.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

That was helped by Parker managing to complete 90 minutes for the first time following an Achilles’ injury that ruled him out of Tottenham’s last four matches of the season. “I’m happy he’s got over the injury and is fit to play,” Hodgson said. “But towards the end of games he is running on memory.”

The match was used by Fifa to test Hawk-Eye’s goal-line technology system. Although the referee wouldn’t have been allowed to use the signals from the cameras, there were no situations where there was any doubt if the ball crossed the line.