It was down to England’s consistency and the paucity of the opposition in World Cup qualifying Group K that there was zero jeopardy about this occasion. Thomas Tuchel’s team can only beat what is in front of them and they had done that with sufficient regularity to guarantee their place at the finals next summer with two matches to spare.
It made for the question. Could they do it on a soggy midweek night when most of the people outside their camp did not care? The answer was yes, even if it was not a performance or an occasion to quicken the pulse or live for any length of time in the memory. The serious business is to come.
Tuchel had demanded energy, a finessing of the connections between his players, a reinforcement of the identity he has wanted to emerge from the autumn programme. It did not completely happen like that. Too often, the final pass was missing. But what the manager did get was another win and another clean sheet. Count seven of each from seven qualifiers. The final one is against Albania in Tirana on Sunday. And, also, two lovely goals.
Bukayo Saka got the first in the 28th minute with a volley that was marked by trademark technique. And Eberechi Eze, who came on as part of a quadruple substitution on 65 minutes that also included Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden, scored the second in stoppage time.
Serbia wanted a foul for a shirt pull by Bellingham but he played on to Foden, who operated as a false 9, winning praise from Tuchel. When Foden found Eze, the first-time curler for the far corner was too much for the Serbia goalkeeper, Predrag Rajkovic. It was a moment of impressive incision on the counterattack and went a long way towards elevating the tone of it all.
Tuchel’s headline selection call had been to name the recalled Bellingham as a substitute, the manager retaining Morgan Rogers as the No 10 in his starting lineup. How could Tuchel have put Bellingham straight back in? It would have undermined so much of what he has preached. Rogers had been excellent as a starter in the previous three matches, won by scorelines of 5-0, 3-0 and 5-0. The first of those had been the transformative result against Serbia in Belgrade.
Bellingham got arguably the loudest cheer of the night when he was introduced, although the bar was low in this regard, Wembley pretty subdued, quite a few empty seats. It was always going to be on Tuchel’s players to spark the supporters, not the other way around. The motivation had to come from within. Really, it was about getting the job done.
The first paper plane from the stands was cheered on to the fringes of the pitch in the 19th minute and it was certainly a sleepy start, despite the best efforts of Elliot Anderson and Rogers to inject a bit of tempo. Or England’s desire to open up the game with raking long diagonals.
Saka cut through the torpor. From a Declan Rice free-kick, it was a poor punch under no pressure from Rajkovic, which located the debutant left-back, Nico O’Reilly, on the edge of the box and his shot deflected out to Saka on the right. It is a movement that Saka has practised over and over again. The quick adjustment of the feet. The opening up of his body. The left-foot volley, almost caressed into the far corner.
England made a few inroads up the left, Marcus Rashford flickering, trying his tricks. O’Reilly saw a deflected cross fly at the outside of the near post – from the corner, Harry Kane headed wide – while Rashford had shot too close to Rajkovic on 25 minutes. It was a shame that Rashford fluffed a pass to Rice on a break before the interval. Rogers also glanced a header wide.
after newsletter promotion
It felt like a big opportunity for Rashford in the absence of the injured Anthony Gordon. The pace was there from him; the willingness to run at his full-back. The end product was erratic.
It was Serbia’s first game under the new manager, Veljko Paunovic, and the importance of it could not be overstated. The visitors had arrived in London determined to keep alive their slim hopes of a playoff spot. By the end, with Albania beating Andorra, it was over for them.
In the England goal, it was yet another quiet night for Jordan Pickford. He had entered the game on the back of a record nine consecutive clean sheets. The last time he conceded for his country was in October last year in the Nations League defeat here against Greece. England’s defenders barely ceded an inch.
Serbia wondered whether they could produce one moment and it almost came in the 63rd minute when Filip Kostic crossed after a rare break. Dusan Vlahovic flicked wide of the far post. Serbia pushed a little more towards the end; everything was on the line for them but they never truly looked like scoring.
Eze made a difference. On for Rashford, he went close after Bellingham had got the ball back from Reece James’s outrageous flick. Foden was off target with a header and Eze hit the crossbar after good buildup work from Bellingham and Foden. When he was played in again by the pair, the finish was a beauty.
