In a word, unimpressive. England and Belgium partook in a rather-less-friendly-than-you-might-expect at Wembley Stadium as Roy Hodgson and company looked to prepare for the European Championship Finals, and the hosts put in a stodgy, but ultimately effective performance to see off their guests 1-0.
England Vs. Belgium: Danny Welbeck Gives England 1-0 Win
It was not an exciting game. Before Danny Welbeck opened the scoring after a deft 1-2 with Ashley Young and a neat chip over Simon Mignolet, the most exciting moment came when Dries Mertens pushed Gary Cahill into Joe Hart and then slotted into the open goal. His strike, of course, was called off for the blatant foul, and Cahill ended up heading out with an injury.
Belgium were playing an incredibly odd system without anything approaching a true striker and were therefore having trouble getting anything in the way of penetration. For much of the match, Everton midfielder Marouane Fellaini was the furthest black shirt forward, and, unsurprisingly, that meant that the visitors were able to do very little with their possession.
They also had a hilarious back line of Jan Vertonghen, Thomas Vermaelen, Timmy Simons and Guillaume Gillet, so it was a little bit surprising that England didn't push them a little bit harder. But Welbeck's goal was enough, and despite Belgium switching to a 4-4-2 by bringing on Romelu Lukaku in the late stages of the first half, England held out well enough.
Jermaine Defoe could have wrapped things up as the game marched toward injury time, but his shot clattered off the woodwork with 82 minutes on the clock. Gillet had previously clipped Hart’s post with a wonderful try from outside the box.
All in all, a good enough performance to beat Belgium. Is that going to be enough at the Euros? Probably not.
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