Jude Bellingham scored with virtually the last kick of the game to rescue a draw for England against Belgium.
Boss Gareth Southgate made a raft of changes from the defeat to Brazil on Saturday. Unfortunately, his side were all at sea in the first 10 minutes and fell behind when Jordan Pickford’s ill-thought pass was picked off and Youri Tielemans slotted into the bottom corner.
After Ollie Watkins dissappointed with his chance to stake a claim for the Euros in the defeat to Brazil, Ivan Toney seized his opportunity to impress. The Brentford man was a livewire up-front and nearly scored less than a minute in.
He did get onto the scoresheet 17 minutes into the game though, winning a penalty in the process. He got his body between Jan Vertonghen and the ball, with the former Spurs man bringing him down to give away the spot-kick.
The confidence the England squad has in Toney was then on full display when his team-mates handed him the ball for the penalty. He duly dispatched it to equalise and continued to provide impressive hold-up play to set himself out as Harry Kane’s deputy.
England boss Gareth Southgate is already dealing with a mountain of injury issues. And they showed no signs of going away on Monday night, with star defender John Stones limping off a matter of minutes in.
Stones was left in discomfort and had to be taken off by Southgate, to be replaced by Joe Gomez. That led to Ezri Konsa being moved to centre-back from the right, with Gomez slotting in there.
It is a situation Southgate will be desperate to avoid happening again as England’s preparation for the Euros ramps up. All four of his first-choice back four are sidelined and the drop off in quality behind them is now a growing concern.
One of the main criticisms aimed at England boss Gareth Southgate has been that he struggles to make good enough use of his subs to change a game. While this was only a friendly, it was a problem that Southgate appeared to have the answer for.
Though the Three Lions had the majority of possession, they failed to make it count. Similarly, they failed to carve out many clear-cut chances. Southgate waited until the last stages to respond, but his changes worked as England found an equaliser.