Arsenal pair Saka and Eze score for Three Lions

England 2-0 Serbia
by Layth Yousif
at Wembley Stadium

A GOAL in each half from Arsenal pair Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze sealed victory against Serbia in a low-key, dead-on game on Thursday night.

In front of 74,289 spectators, Thomas Tuchel’s Three Lions won another victory to secure their seventh competitive victory out of seven in Group K, without conceding a goal.

However, Jude Bellingham had to be content to come off the bench after the hour mark, as his childhood friend from the West Midlands, Morgan Rogers, started ahead of La Liga and Champions League winners Real Madrid in midfield, while Manchester City’s Nico O’Reilly, 19, was handed his first England start, just 11 months after making his Premier League bow at Manchester City.

Tuchel reflected after the match: “It’s not about building a starting XI, it’s about building a team. They’re all great players at their club, they’re used to playing, they’re disappointed but are buying into this idea of ​​building a team.

“That’s only if we are a strong group, able to put ego aside and give the coach a headache in the next game.”

New Serbia boss Veljko Paunovic has started his reign with Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic leading the charge.

In a disappointing start, Saka cut inside but fired over as the rainy weather made conditions difficult for both sides.

In the 24th minute, it was Marcus Rashford’s turn to intervene inside, to send a shot to Serbian goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic, who gathered well on the soft pitch.

Between these two moments there was a greater cheer, for the arrival of the first paper plane to land on the Wembley turf, from the apathetic England fans.

The lively Rashford then shut down Serbian right-back Ognjen Mimovic with satisfying skill to highlight his qualities.

The 28-year-old has enjoyed an excellent start to the campaign while on loan at Catalan giants Barcelona. Indeed, no player in Europe’s top five leagues can surpass his six assists, while the former Manchester United striker has also scored four goals in four Champions League matches.

England’s dominance finally paid off, when the deadlock was finally broken before the half-hour mark, when Saka scored for the Three Lions to make it 1-0, as heavy rain continued to fall on the national stadium.

The 24-year-old Arsenal forward volleyed and side-footed into the net with a superb finish, in difficult conditions, to give the home side the lead, scoring his 14th England goal. Of this total, 12 participated in competitive matches.

It was a good night all round for Saka, who tied Theo Walcott for England caps while an Arsenal player (47), with only four Gunners making more appearances for the men’s team: Kenny Sansom (77), David Seaman (72), Tony Adams (66) and Ashley Cole (52).

As time approached halftime, fans were treated to a flurry of activity. First, Rashford brought on young talent O’Reilly, as the City player’s deflected effort forced a save from goalkeeper Rajkovic, 30, who plays in the Saudi Professional League for Al-Ittihad.

There was also still time for captain Kane to inexplicably head his header wide, despite being well placed.

This was before Jordan Pickford’s first save of the game, showing excellent anticipation to come off his line and block a Filip Kostic attempt, to ensure England went into the break 1-0 up.

Pickford extended his run to nine consecutive 90-minute appearances for England without conceding a goal, a national record. The Everton goalkeeper has not conceded a goal while playing for his country since October 2024.

Tuchel has now made it clear that Saka is his first choice to operate on the right flank, and Rashford – or the injured Anthony Gordon – on the left, with both forwards complementing England striker, captain and top scorer Harry Kane up front.

With the German boss a big fan of Arsenal’s Declan Rice as the attacking number eight, the intelligent Rogers as the more disciplined number 10 and Elliot Anderson as the stubborn number six, then you have to assume – if all six remain fit and healthy, which, admittedly, is a big assumption given the vagaries of the beautiful game – the current midfield and attack will start while Tuchel’s favored half-dozen forwards will be coming to next summer’s jamboree in North America and Mexico.

All of which means time is running out – if it hasn’t already – for the mercurial Jack Grealish to make the squad, let alone the squad, while Bellingham himself has a job to do to get back into the starting XI.

For what?

Well, Tuchel is a strong supporter of mentor Ralf Rangnick, and although the German tactical master failed to impress during a miserable spell at Old Trafford, the fact is that the current Austrian boss firmly believes in the power of intense counter-pressure from the top. Something that Tuchel is a fervent disciple of.

And unless the talented but less disciplined Bellingham can curb his instincts as he throws off the shackles of Tuchel’s holy orders when it comes to positioning and pressing – or gegenpressing to call it by its original name – then Tuchel will remain impassive.

For all England’s dominance Serbia came close to equalizing after the break, when Kostic entered the box Ezri Konsa waded in calling for an offside flag which never came. The 33-year-old Juventus midfielder clashed with Serie A team-mate Vlahovic, whose instinctive attempt to throw him into the far corner saw the ball go narrowly wide.

After a series of changes from Tuchel in the 65th minute, including Bellingham replacing Rogers from the mean pass, England continued to field Saka on the right, while his Arsenal colleague Eze came in to occupy the left side, with Phil Foden – according to Tuchel’s pre-match briefings – playing as a false number nine.

With five minutes to go, Vlahovic headed towards the box but lifted the ball onto the roof of the net. While at the other end of the field, substitute Eze touched the woodwork.

Yet Eze was not to be denied, and as the clock reached 90 minutes, the Gunners forward signed under the noses of bitter rivals Spurs at the end of the summer transfer window, cutting inside to curl a delicious effort beyond Rejkovic’s despairing dive, and into the top corner of the net – to liven up an unexceptional game and make it 2-0.

It was instructive to note that it was Bellingham who broke away from defense to play the ball to Foden, who in turn fed the exciting Eze, underlining the strength in depth of Tuchel’s side.

Speaking after the final whistle, Tuchel said: “We made a good impact straight away from the bench. We brought in some quality players and they wanted to show what they could do.

“They created chances, half-chances, and finally scored. You could see the impact, and it should stay like that.”

The next stage will be Tirana, which will face Albania on Sunday, qualified for the play-offs after beating Andorra.