Key events
GOAL! Belgium 1-0 England (De Neve 9)
De Neve takes a one-step free kick, curling it over the wall and into the right-hand side of the net. Simple as that! Earps stunned with no chance! Such a brilliantly placed free kick!
8 min: Kelly goes over under pressure from Kees from behind. She expects a soft foul to be punished, but the referee sees nothing in the shove. Instead it’s a handball by Kelly, just to the right of the D.
6 min: Most of the early play is happening in the Belgian half … hold on! Scrub that! Kelly gives the ball away cheaply in midfield, allowing the hosts to counter. Suddenly Wullaert is tearing clear! She aims for the top left … but Earps palms around the post. But no matter, because the flag goes up for offside.
5 min: Bronze slips Russo into space down the right. Russo has the jump on Deloose … but she’d gone way too soon. Up pops the flag.
4 min: Russo is impeded out on the left flank and it’s an early chance for England to send a free kick into the Belgian box. Kelly to swing it in. Evrard punches miles clear with confidence.
3 min: Since you ask, the brass band are playing a version of The Final Countdown by Europe. A strange choice for the first couple of minutes, but each to their own.
2 min: The Den Dreef is packed to the rafters. Some brass-band-based bedlam. But a quiet start on the field.
England get the ball rolling … but only after taking the knee.
The teams are out! Belgium in red, England in white. Once the anthems are done, we’ll be up and running.
Belgium boss Ives Serneels takes his turn. “We enjoyed Friday … we try to do the same way but maybe enjoying a little bit more with a better result … we like to play here in Leuven … we like the stadium, our fans like it.”
Sarina Wiegman speaks to ITV. “We expect that we will have the ball a lot and be close to the final third of the opponent … I hope Fran Kirby brings us calmness, the final pass, patience … Niamh Charles has developed very well, she played a good game on Friday, she is very attacking … the biggest thing for us is in possession, final third, being even more patient, finding the right pass, have the right connections … just a little more to make goals out of the chances we create … we approach every game to win … we want to reach the final and win the Nations League so we want to win this game … we will be very motivated.”
England make one change from Friday night. Fran Kirby is back and replaces Ella Toone, who drops to the bench.
Belgium make two changes. Jassina Blom and Sari Kees return from injury so Feli Delacauw and Jody Vangheluwe drop to the bench.
The teams
Belgium: Evrard, Kees, Deloose, De Neve, De Caigny, Cayman, Vanhaevermaet, Detruyer, Missipo, Wullaert, Blom.
Subs: Lemey, Lichtfus, Philtjens, Vangheluwe, Van Belle, Littel, Iliano, Delacauw, Daniels, Wijnants, Fon, Janssens.
England: Earps, Bronze, Charles, Bright, Greenwood, Walsh, Kelly, Stanway, Kirby, Hemp, Russo.
Subs: Roebuck, Hampton, Keating, Carter, Wubben-Moy, Morgan, Le Tissier, Zelem, Toone, Clinton, Daly, Park.
Preamble
A big test awaits England in Leuven tonight. Group A1 currently looks like this …
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Netherlands 6pts (+4)
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England 6pts (+1)
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Belgium 4pts (0)
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Scotland 1pt (-5)
… so while Sarina Wiegman’s side aren’t yet in must-win territory, they don’t have too much in the way of wriggle room. The Lionesses have yet to hit the heights in this Nations League campaign, doing just enough to squeak wins against Scotland and Belgium, and going down to a careless defeat against the Dutch. “We want to improve on our game,” says Wiegman, and they may need to against a Belgian side who impressed in Leicester last Friday and have already seen off the group leaders at home. With the Netherlands expected to see off the Scots at Hampden this evening, any dropped points will crank up the pressure on England ahead of December’s double-headed denouement against the Dutch and Scotland. Big test tonight all right, then. Kick off is at 7.30pm GMT. It’s on!
