Belgium vs England LIVE: Women’s Nations League result and reaction as Wullaert scores late winning penalty
Belgium 3-2 England: The Lionesses slump to defeat in Belgium and face uphill battle to reach Nations League semi-finals
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England suffered a big blow to their hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals of the Nations League as a brilliantly entertaining contest against Belgium was won by the hosts.
Too often in the match the Lionesses were caught on their heels and forced to scramble back in defence as the Belgians came forward on the counter-attack. A foul just outside the box set up Laura De Neve to whip home a fantastic free kick which put the home side ahead.
A collision between Jassina Blom and Alex Greenwood saw the England defender stretchered off the pitch after a long delay. England responded to the break better, they equalised off the head of Lucy Bronze before Fran Kirby slotted home a cool finish to get them in front.
Another counter was the Lionesses’ undoing though as Tessa Wullaert beat Mary Earps with a shot across the box before a late penalty, due to a handball from Georgia Stanway, decided proceedings as Wullaert earned her team a famous victory.
Relive the action from Belgium vs England below:
Belgium 3-2 England
90 mins: Three minutes of added time to play. Is there going to be more late drama?
Full-time! Belgium 3-2 England
90+3 mins: There’s the whistle! Belgium have done it. They’ve beaten the Lionesses at home and have blown this Nations League group wide open.
England sink to their knees. They’ll be gobsmacked at how they’ve lost that game but there are huge questions to answer about their defending.
The home side are celebrating on the pitch, this is a huge win for them.
FT Belgium 3-2 England
England’s fate in Group A1 is now out of their hands. They drop to third place with Belgium leaping above them on seven points. The Netherlands defeated Scotland tonight and remain top with nine.
England are on six, they need to win their last two matches (with a big margin of victory against both teams) in order to win the group and reach the final four.
It’s a huge task facing Sarina Wiegman and the team.
FT Belgium 3-2 England
England defender Lucy Bronze, speaking after the game: “We created more chances than the last game but we were sloppier on the ball. Their goals came from our loose passes. Apart from that they didn’t really create anything, particularly in the first half and we had a few chances to put the game to bed if we were a little bit more clinical in front of goal.
“We were pushing at the end, we were unfortunate to give away a penalty. We just couldn’t get the ball across the line in the last 30 minutes.
“The other game was almost the opposite. We were so good on the ball, we just didn’t create chances. The whole team needed to step up and obviously there was that big break where Alex had to come off who is probably one of our key players on the ball.
“One of those things. We have to do a lot better. Similar happened against Holland where we gave it away too sloppily, too easily. It’s something we need to work on collectively and individually, we need to look at ourselves and go again.”
FT Belgium 3-2 England
England’s head coach Sarina Wiegman, speaking after the game on ITV4: “They scored three goals and we scored two. This was a game I think we should have been tighter on the ball. The tempo wasn’t great. We did create lots of chances, we dominated the game totally. We lost the ball and they were gone on the counter attack. It was us that made it hard. They played top and played very compact. It’s something we have to get out of our game. We have to do better in the final third.
“We were sloppy on the ball and they were ready for that. They play their long ball and they are gone. We didn’t do it good enough today.
“I haven’t talked to the medical staff yet [about Alex Greenwood]. If she’s walking then she’s alright.
“Absolutely. We are aware of that [how hard Olympics qualification will now be]. We have to win by more than one goal against the Netherlands at Wembley. We have put ourselves in a hard position at the moment.”
FT Belgium 3-2 England
England defender Lucy Bronze, speaking about Olympic qualification: “We’ve still got a good chance, we play in our next game against Holland at Wembley - a stadium where we like to step up, against a team that we played quite recently.
“We’ll put this game to bed, analyse the game properly and look forward to playing Holland and Scotland. Two really tough games. We’ve left ourselves with a little bit more to do but it’s not impossible.”
FT Belgium 3-2 England
Lucy Bronze on Alex Greenwood’s head injury: “Not nice to see her in pain. Told that she is doing well and that she is OK.
“When it’s a head injury it’s not something you can take lightly, the medical team were superb on the pitch, making sure she was safe so I just wish her a good recovery.”
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