City trio feature in England's draw with Belgium

Manchester City F.C.

·27 March 2024

City trio feature in England's draw with Belgium

Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku both played the full 90 minutes in England's 2-2 draw with Belgium at Wembley – but John Stones was withdrawn in the first half.

City’s defender was making his 71st senior appearance for the Three Lions which moved him to within one cap of former Blues manager and 1966 World Cup winner, Alan Ball.

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But the 29-year-old was replaced by Liverpool’s Joe Gomez in the 10th minute after sustaining an injury.

Matters worsened for Gareth Southgate’s side soon after when Youri Tielemans broke the deadlock for the Red Devils after he smartly drilled into the net when Amadou Onana intercepted Jordan Pickford's clearance.

Undeterred by falling behind, the hosts equalised five minutes later when Ivan Toney was brought down inside the box before he coolly dispatched the penalty.

It represented the Brentford striker’s maiden England goal – and it appeared it would be a night of firsts at Wembley when West Ham’s Jared Bowen headed his nation into the lead with what would’ve been a first for his country.

However, with the assistance of VAR, his flick was ruled out after replays showed the attacker had strayed into an offside position.

The pendulum then swung in Belgium's favour with 10 minutes of the first half remaining when Romelu Lukaku latched onto a diagonal pass before his clipped ball across goal was headed home by Tielemans.

Aston Villa’s midfielder’s second of the night was his sixth goal for his nation – and his third international goal against England.

England went close through Kobbie Mainoo and then Foden after the interval, but the goal the hosts craved looked likely to evade them as the match ticked into stoppage time.

However, they snatched an equaliser in the fifth additional minute when Jude Bellingham collected the ball and slotted home.

Southgate's side will next be in action against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Monday 3 June as England prepare for the 2024 European Championships in Germany.

Elsewhere, Nathan Ake played the full 90 minutes as the Netherlands lost 2-1 away to Germany.

Ronald Koeman’s side took the lead at Waldstadion through Joey Veerman’s crisp volley, but his spectacular effort was cancelled out soon after by Maximilian Mittelstadt’s wonderful, curling strike.

After the fast start by both teams at the home of Eintracht Frankfurt, they seemingly cancelled each other out in the second half - but Julian Nagelsmann's team took the lead in the closing stages through Niclas Fullkrug.

Ake's nation pushed for an equaliser but it was to no avail as Germany recorded their second successive win after beating France 2-0 in their previous outing.

In an action-packed night of international football, Josko Gvardiol played the full 90 minutes and Mateo Kovacic was introduced at half-time as Croatia came from a goal down to beat Egypt 4-2.

The hosts in Cairo broke the deadlock when Rami Rabia ghosted into the box and poked home following a free-kick.

But Zlatko Dalic's side equalised before half-time when Nikola Vlasic's dipping effort crashed off the crossbar and found the net.

Croatia then turned the match on its head after half-time thanks to Bruno Petkovic’s towering header which accurately found the bottom corner.

The visitors then extended their lead when Andrej Kramaric flicked past Mohamed Abou Gabal at an accurate, in-swinging free-kick with 13 minutes remaining.

And Lovro Majer scored Croatia's fourth on the cusp of full-time before Mohamed Abdelmonem pulled a goal back for Egypt in stoppage time.

Elsewhere, Rodrigo scored twice in Spain's entertaining 3-3 draw with Brazil.

City's midfield enforcer netted the game's first goal from the penalty spot before RB Leipzig’s Dani Olmo’s doubled Luis de la Fuente's side advantage.

But Real Madrid’s Rodrygo pulled a goal back five minutes before half-time and the five-time World Cup winners equalised after the break through exciting teenager Endrick.

With full-time approaching, the hosts at the Santiago Bernabeu restored their lead, once again, through an expertly spot-kick from Rodrigo on 87 minutes.

It looked likely to seal the victory for Spain, but Dorival Junior's team drew level deep into injury time with a penalty of their own which was dispatched by West Ham's Lucas Paqueta.

Finally, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Argentina came from a goal down to beat Costa Rica 3-1 in Los Angeles friendly.

In a starting line-up that included six Premier League players, Julian Alvarez played the full 90 minutes after being an unused sub in the Albiceleste's 3-0 win over El Salvador last week.