International match: England v Belgium full-time report

Danny Welbeck

England 1 Belgium 0

England remain unconvincing but unbowed, and they’ll head for the Euro 2012 finals following a second successive 1-0 win under Roy Hodgson.

Danny Welbeck’s fine finish towards the end of the first half was enough to beat a frustrating Belgian side, who couldn’t break down a stubborn home outfit despite their large amounts of possession during what was a stale contest.

Man of the match Steven Gerrard almost doubled England’s lead just after Welbeck’s strike, whilst Belgium’s Guillaume Gillet and England’s Jermain Defoe both hit the post in the second half.

In the final chance to tune his plans for England’s Group D opener against France in Donetsk on June 11th, Hodgson had handed the exciting Arsenal youngster Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain a first start for his country on the left hand side. After the contest started with the lively Belgians hogging possession, the teenager’s slip when attempting to steal in on James Milner’s pull-back was the best it got for the hosts.

Chamberlain fired over moments later but anyone taking that as a sign of England’s superiority would have to think again, as Belgium stroked the ball around well but to little effect. Indeed the biggest impact made by the visitors came when Dries Mertens nastily shoved Gary Cahill into an onrushing Joe Hart as both ran for the ball. A dazed Cahill was sent for a precautionary x-ray on his jaw, and replaced by Joleon Lescott.

Axel Witsel blazed over Hart’s crossbar moments later, but the contest had long since become a rather dull one before England went and took the lead in it.

Welbeck had barely seen the ball until 10 minutes from half-time, and after he and Gerrard did well to dispossess Moussa Dembele, Ashley Young ran on and played his Manchester United team-mate through on goal, with Welbeck producing the classiest of chips over Simon Mignolet for his first England strike.

Gerrard twice came close to doubling that lead shortly before the break only to see his twin efforts on goal blocked by sliding Belgian defenders, and with half-time coming just at the moment that the hosts were getting on top, the frustrated Belgians were left to rue their lack of cutting edge.

That was to become the theme of another disappointing second half too, which at least started with Chamberlain causing problems and the added threat of Wayne Rooney introduced from the bench to replace Welbeck – who had done little either before or since his goal.

Martens fired Belgium’s next effort well wide as Marc Wilmots’s side began to look to take advantage of England’s disjointed play going forward, with the highly-rated Eden Hazard – most likely going to Chelsea during the summer transfer window – curling an effort straight at Hart from distance before Everton’s giant midfielder Marouane Fellaini muscled his way into the box only to see his shot blocked.

The visitors were coming more and more into the game as it went on, and with Chelsea’s bit-part player Romelu Lukaku introduced in a bid to find Belgium their cutting edge, they almost found it in the most unlikely of places when full-back Gillet cracked a fine effort from the edge of the box which struck the outside of Hart’s post.

Defoe was on at the other end, bringing his usual threat with him, and the forward was soon firing an effort against the Belgian goal frame, before blasting wide following Theo Walcott’s through ball.

Fellaini had been Belgium’s most effective player, but with the midfielder’s header and late, bobbling effort – both comfortably saved by Hart – coming and going, so went the Belgian threat on an evening which highlighted that England will be amongst the tougher teams to beat over the next month in Poland and the Ukraine, where functionality will be favoured over flair.

Mark Jones – follow me on twitter

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