Senegal Beaten, Bring On France

So that’s it then England are through to the Quarter Finals of the World Cup after beating Senegal 3-0, to set up a showdown with defending champions France in 6 days’ time. Except it wasn’t quite that easy for the Three Lions as Senegal came storming out of the traps and were dominant in the match for the first 35 minutes.

There were multiple times during the opening half-hour when Senegal carved the English backline open with distressing ease. Maguire and Stones both seemed a touch overawed by the occasion in these early exchanges, and it was only down to a mix of Senegalese aim being fixed on row Z and a couple of outstanding Pickford saves that parity remained intact.

Having safely weathered the opening storm from the African champions, it was time for the Three Lions to get down to what they do best, scoring goals and destroying teams. The English opener came in the 38th minute when a splendid through ball from Harry Kane set Jude Bellingham free down the left channel. He expertly cut the ball back behind the recovering defenders and into the path of the onrushing Jordan Henderson, for the midfield maestro to sweep past Mendy’s outstretched hand and into the back of the net.

Breaking the deadlock with such a fantastically free-flowing move cut the shackles from English feet and the pride began to roar. For the nine minutes they had between taking the lead and the half-time whistle blowing they poured forward and peppered the goal with a barrage of chances.

It was no surprise to see England double their lead before the break and their second came from another tremendous team move. Bellingham latched onto a ball that broke free on the edge of the England box and drove to halfway with the ball stuck to his boots. On reaching halfway and with the majority of the Senegal team still camped in the England half he sprayed the ball left to Foden whose first-time flick wrong-footed the only Senegal player within 30 yards and fell to the feet of England’s number nine.

Kane was bearing down on goal with only Mendy to beat and, with the freedom of the Savanna’s to pick his spot, he stroked the ball over the keeper’s prostrate body to double England’s lead. From the personal perspective Kane will be happy to open his account for the tournament, becoming the eighth England player to do so.

Senegal’s players were thankful for the respite offered by half-time but their manager, Aliou Cisse, was not thankful for their performance and made a triple substitution during the break in a vain attempt to stop the bleeding and provide his team with a way back into the contest. It didn’t work out as he hoped though as England came roaring out of the traps after the restart.

England dominated the play in the early parts of the second half and all that was in doubt in the match at this point was how long it would be till they added to their lead. It took them a full dozen minutes from the second kick-off for the boys to find their third goal.

The ball broke to Foden on the right, after Kane’s progress was cut short by a well-timed tackle, and he powered forward before curving the ball exquisitely across the box to Saka. The finish applied was equally beautiful, just a deft flick of the ball to get it off the ground and over the advancing keeper’s flailing arms.

Shortly after this both Saka and Foden were removed from the action to save their legs for the upcoming quarter-final against France, the defending champions, that their brilliant interplay had made secure. They were replaced by Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish – if ever there was a display of the strength of our bench this was it.

Bellingham and Henderson, who had combined for the opener, were also taken off soon after as Southgate’s attention turns to the next round, and the heartening thing was that England’s performance level barely dropped.

That consistency and the fact that our 12 goals in this tournament have been supplied by 8 separate individuals leaves me believing that we should be capable of getting the result we want against France on Saturday. Yes they have their weapons, and our defence hasn’t looked impregnable, but Iran are the only team to score against us so far in the tournament so what’s to say we can’t turn those weapons into blunt facsimiles of the real thing?

Also, we have only failed to score in the game against the Americans in a game where we looked like we had lost our way, like a rambler in the peak district, but we have got our compass working again now. Having defeated the African champions so comprehensively I’m excited to see what we can do against the defending World Champions.

Bring On France!