Defeat leaves Southgate quietly satisfied

Belgium 1 v England 0
Scant are the occasions when one can watch an England World Cup Qualifier with the relaxed air of someone enjoying an ice cold Pimms on the lawn at a sun drenched garden party. In my 59 years of following England at major tournaments I would suggest it has happened on only one previous occasion, the 1990 Third Place Play off. England lost that game to Italy 2-1 though in mitigation were still nursing the wounds of having gone out to the Germans on penalties in the semi final – something that is thankfully not going to happen this year.

Anyway Belgium v England 2018 offered a similarly relaxed prospect though matters were somewhat skewed by the respective team selections which rendered the match something of a non event. A straw poll of the level of interest could be taken at the Tennis Club Bar where I began my viewing. After forty minutes barely half those who had started to watch the game remained, the tennis on the courts in the annual championships offering better entertainment.

For this was essentially Belgium B v England B and what did we learn? We learned that Belgium’s second string side is better than England’s a circumstance that is likely to be replicated with the respective A teams.

And what did Gareth Southgate learn? He learned that Marcus Rashford’s Achilles heel is his finishing. When put through on goal in minute 66 he should have scored but as is the problem with his form at Manchester United he failed to tuck it away. Which probably explains why his outings for United are limited to coming on from the bench. We also possibly learned that Danny Rose offers far more dynamism down the left wing than Ashley Young but that Southgate will probably stick with the latter. We also learned the Ruben Loftus Cheek can play in bursts but is he really good enough to open up a world class defence? It’s when you ask that question that England tend to fall short. Who are our world class players? We’ve got some good players but world class.

That said the fall-out from defeat is plain for all to see. A route to the semi finals of a World Cup with matches v Columbia and either Switzerland or Sweden in the quarter’s. But that is to get ahead of ourselves. Columbia on Tuesday is a stern challenge. And after our opening three games, I am not totally convinced that we are sufficiently good enough for that challenge. I hope I’m wrong.

©Mark Brennand