Key events
90 min: A minimum of three added minutes.
89 min: “This has been a really fun game to watch as a Lionesses fan,” emails Samuel. “It’s difficult to tell how good a performance this is given this seems a fairly limited Belgian side (??), however, the mix between established players like Bright, Russo, Bronze and Walsh alongside newer players like Park and Beever-Jones is surely only a good omen for future games.”
Goal! 88 min: England 5-0 Belgium (Walsh)
It’s there! That, amazingly, is Walsh’s first goal for England! It’s a sweet strike from the edge of the box, deflected up and over Evrard. It’s her 83rd cap tonight and she’s finally got an international goal. Richly deserved too. The initial effort was on target so she should certainly be credited with it despite the deflection.
87 min: I don’t know how many fans Belgium brought over. But they’ve had some lovely sunshine to enjoy in the south-west if nothing else. More to come tomorrow, too.
Tysiak is booked for pulling back Park after some silky skills and a burst of pace from the scorer of the fourth goal.
84 min: Tine De Caigny and Jassina Blom are on for Belgium. Teulings and Eurlings off. Belgium have been outclassed but can they fashion a consolation from somewhere?
80 min: Millie Bright goes off, Jess Carter of Gotham FC comes on. Laura Deloose is also on for Belgium in place of Davina Philtjens.
Goal! 78 min: England 4-0 Belgium (Park)
A cool one-on-one finish from the Manchester City player after she races through into space, and this is turning into a cricket score.
76 min: Russo and Williamson off for England with Esme Morgan and Nikita Parris on.
76 min: Spain are 4-2 up on Portugal, in injury time, so England will top the group tonight.
73 min: Walsh cracks a brilliant shot that is touched on to the post by Evrard! No one could begrudge Walsh a goal tonight as she’s been her usual brilliant self, producing lots of creativity in midfield.
Goal! 67 min: England 3-0 Belgium (Beever-Jones)
Game, set and match: and a first England goal for Beever-Jones. It’s a fine low ball from Mead, who has been outstanding, and Beever-Jones nips in front of Russo and tucks away a smart finish from close range.
65 min: Belgium counter quickly and Feli Delacauw has a shot deflected on to the roof of the net moments after coming on. Gunnarsdottir, the new coach, applauds her players from the touchline.
65 min: More powerful work from Russo to charge in behind Belgium and cut the ball back. It’s intercepted. Walsh then hits a good looking cross from the right.
63 min: Double change for Belgium. Detruyter on for Toloba and Delacauw for Missipo.
61 min: Belgium have created very little. It would be astonishing to see them get something on the balance of play, but at 2-0 they still have a glimmer of hope.
59 min: Ella Toone off, Jess Park on for England. As we previously mentioned Park scored the winner against Spain in February.
58 min: Missipo escapes from Bright down the Belgian left. She takes it to the byline but produces an indifferent cross that is easily cut out.
55 min: Portugal 2-3 Spain is a latest score with 20min to play in Pacos de Ferreira. Carole Costa has reduced the hosts’ deficit to a single goal, and it’s game on.
54 min: Clinton just had an effort on goal from distance for England which she caught well but directed off-target.
The irrepressible pun-meister Peter Oh has sent an email entitled: “B-grade headline”:
“Bronze, Bright Batter Belgium Back to Brussels?”
Speaking of which:
“Belgium better hope that Beever-Jones doesn’t get on the score sheet too!” adds Peter.
50 min: Mead, who seems to be everywhere, pumps a cross in from the England left. Evrard manages to bash it clear after coming off her line.
47 min: Beever-Jones wins a free-kick in midfield soon after coming on. Williamson is then sent haring down the right for England, and she directs a low cross into the six-yard box after a long sprint, but it’s comfortably collected by Evrard in goal.
Second-half kick-off!
England’s Lauren James has gone off with a thigh problem, replaced by Aggie Beever-Jones.
Solid, and at times spectacular, from England in the first half and a nicely-timed second goal on the stroke of half-time. Walsh, Mead, Russo and James all excellent.
Spain are still 3-1 up on Portugal.
Here is some half time reading:
Goal! 45 min: England 2-0 Belgium
Bronze flicks on a header at the near post from the resulting corner after Mead’s effort. Bright is there to nod in from point-blank range at the far post!
45 min: Mead is released by another top-class Walsh ball, angled from a central area to the right wing. She cuts in, and forces a fantastic save from Evrard!
44 min: Belgium have a two-on-two against England on a swift counterattack. Missipo has the ball at her feet but she plays a poor pass that is easily intercepted.
42 min: Walsh spreads an excellent ball out to Mead in space on the right. Mead crosses low … Russo cracks another first-time shot that cannons off the same post as the last effort!
41 min: Belgium seem to have more space to operate, like the intensity of England’s midfield has dropped. Vanhaevermaet looks for Missipo, this time on the other flank.
38 min: Belgium establish themselves in midfield for what feels like the first time and they pass the ball around crisply for a while. Hannah Eurlings tries to release Kassandra Missipo down the left wing but she’s fractionally offside. Missipo plays her club football for Sassuolo in Italy.
35 min: Russo rampages down the England left, muscling her marker Isabelle Iliano out of the way. She dribbles across the edge of the penalty area. But Iliano recovers well and gets a foot in, bringing another promising England move to an end.
33 min: Spain are 3-1 up in Portugal, in the other game in this group, which kicked off 15 minutes before this one in sunny Bristol.
31 min: A smart free-kick routine by England. James is slid in on the right, thanks to a beautifully weighted pass by Beth Mead. She digs out another excellent cross. But no one in the middle can make meaningful contact. It’s Russo at the far post but the ball is just above her.
29 min: Now Bronze escapes into space on the England right. Her cross isn’t met by anyone in the middle and ends up on the other side of the pitch. There are concerned faces among the Belgian defenders, some of whom look to be tiring a bit already. It’s going to be a long night for them.
26 min: Belgium threaten the England goal momentarily, after Bright gives the ball away, but a shot is blocked by the hosts’ back line, and normal service can be resumed with England on the front foot.
Just after the opening goal, Russo played an excellent ball over for Mead, from left to right, but she was offside.
Goal! 21 min: England 1-0 Belgium (Bronze)
James floats a good cross over from the England right, and Bronze is there to divert a header into the net! I think goes in off Amber Tysiak’s hand but the crowd don’t care – and Bronze will hope she’s credited with that one because her initial header was on target. It was a fine delivery by James with plenty of quality on it.
20 min: A decent set-piece routine for Belgium with a ball whipped to the back stick. But it’s out for a goal kick.
Quick as a flash England are down the other end … Mead manages to stab a cross towards the penalty spot, where Russo smacks a superb first-time shot against the near post! That was an instinctive effort from a player who is bang in form.
18 min: Clinton ghosts away from Vanhaevermaet with a lovely turn close to the edge of the visitors’ penalty area. The Belgium midfielder isn’t having it, though, and yanks her opponent’s shirt. It’s a free-kick and a yellow card for Vanhaevermaet.
Lauren James clips a nice swerving free-kick which is close to the top corner but never looks likely to dip in time to hit the target.
16 min: Mead bursts down the right and crosses, the Belgian defence looking disorganised. It’s a good cross and Niamh Charles hits a shot from the edge of the area that is blocked.
14 min: Davina Philtjens goes in with studs showing on Grace Clinton in midfield. That looks a painful one. It’s a free-kick and Clinton is thankfully OK.
12 min: Another corner! This one’s for Belgium though. Cayman floats it in from the Belgium left, but England clear their lines.
9 min: Another England corner. Mead drills it towards the far post. Millie Bright holds her head in her hands after failing to connect.
8 min: Bronze and Russo try a one-two on the England right. Bronze runs to the byline. Vanhaevermaet coughs up a corner under pressure from the Chelsea right-back. So that’s four England corners in the first nine minutes and five in total … what’s the world record? From the set-piece, Bronze glances a header goalwards but it’s wide.
7 min: As Wiegman predicted and as you would expect, Belgium are sitting deep in defence and inviting England to try and play through them. This will be a night requiring a bit of creativity in midfield and up top to find a way through.
6 min: Now England build down their left wing. Russo chases a ball towards the corner but the visitors manage to clear the danger.
4 min: Now Belgium win a corner of their own which is dealt with efficiently by the English back line after it’s hit to the near post.
2 min: England threaten immediately. They win two corners quickly… no, three corners. The Belgians are working hard in defence already. Lauren James bends a good ball in from the third set-piece and it curls just wide of the far post. Wiegman is animated already on the bench.
First half kick-off!
Here we go.
England’s players wear black armbands tonight after the tragic death of Poppy Atkinson last month, a 10-year-old footballer and Lionesses fan who was struck by a car on a pitch in Kendal.
The teams are out on the Ashton Gate pitch. And the packed house is being treated to come pyrotechnics before the anthems.
“There was a lot of thinking,” Wiegman tells ITV of the decision to replace Park with Mead in the starting lineup. “Because I think we have many opportunities in that position … we expect Belgium to drop deep. I think they both can play there … we made the decision to start Beth.
“It’s really disappointing [that Chloe Kelly has dropped out of the squad with a foot injury]. “She was in a very good position, happy, and in training she did well. So unfortunately Tuesday will be too early, too. So now she continues at her club.
“I hope we are seeing a more ruthless edge. Not only Alessia [Russo] but I think the whole team. We want to play well, have the ball, create chances and score goals. Tonight I expect that to be tough, because they defend very close to each other, deep, and they play physical too. We need to do it together. And hopefully we can “show” and do well.”
What is Jess Park’s best position for England, she is asked in a pre-recorded interview on ITV.
“That’s a hard question. I’d like to say midfield I think …
“The win against Spain was my best moment for England. It was an amazing moment.”
And if you’d told her, some time ago, that she’d be scoring a winner for England against the world champions at Wembley?
“I wouldn’t have believed it.”
“They had to hang in there, they had to show some quality,” the ITV pundit Ian Wright says of February’s win over Spain. “I liked it because it was the kind of performance I’ve seen England do in tournaments, and go very far.”
“You want to show the rest of Europe that you mean business, we’ve attacked 2025, and we are coming for our trophy,” Karen Carney adds.
“Like Wrighty said, it’s that tournament mentality starting to kick in.”
Biiiig Belgium-themed football news from today:
Feel free to email me with your hopes and expectations.
Tom Garry
Leah Williamson has praised the form of Alessia Russo before England’s No 9 spearheads the Lionesses’ attack in their Women’s Nations League double-header against Belgium, starting in Bristol on Friday.
Arsenal’s Russo has scored 14 goals in her past 21 games for club and country, including two in last week’s Champions League second-leg comeback win over Real Madrid. Her clubmate, the England captain Williamson, praised Russo’s character, saying at St George’s Park on Thursday: “Everyone will always say how nice a person Alessia is and everyone wants to see her do well for that reason. But to be a No 9 you do have to have that sort of – not arrogance – but confidence about you.
Kelly ruled out by foot injury
Chloe Kelly has been ruled out of England’s Women’s Nations League games against Belgium with a foot injury.
Kelly – who joined the Gunners on loan from Manchester City on transfer deadline day – was already confirmed as an absentee from Friday night’s League A3 fixture in Bristol, but will now play no further part in the Lionesses’ camp.
An FA statement read: “Chloe Kelly has returned to Arsenal for treatment on a foot injury and will not participate in the forthcoming Uefa Women’s Nations League fixtures against Belgium.
“Yesterday Sarina Wiegman confirmed Kelly’s withdrawal from tonight’s fixture and following further assessment it has now been decided that she will return to her club to aid her rehabilitation.” The Lionesses will travel to Leuven for the return fixture against Belgium on April 8. (PA Media)
Teams news
Sarina Wiegman makes one change from the England side that beat Spain in February, with Beth Mead coming in for Jess Park. For Belgium, who have a new coach in the form of Elisabet Gunnarsdottir, the headline is that Tessa Wullaert of Inter Milan misses out with an ankle injury.
England (4-3-3): Hampton, Bronze, Williamson (capt.), Bright, Charles; Clinton, Walsh, Toone; Mead, Russo, James. Substitutes: Morgan, Earps, Le Tissier, Carter, Park, Parker, Beever-Jones, Parris, Moorhouse, Symonds.
Belgium (3-5-2): Evrard; Tysiak, Iliano, Cayman; Janssens, Teulings, Vanhaevermaet, Philtjens, Missipo; Toloba, Eurlings. Substitutes: Bastiaen, Blom, De Caigny, Delacauw, Deloose, Detruyter, Dhont, Elyn, Lichtfus, Mathys, Van Kerkhoven, Wijnants.
Referee: Marta Huerta De Aza (Esp)
Preamble
In three months and one day, the Lionesses will begin their European Championship defence against France in Zurich. Between now and then Sarina Wiegman’s side have two matches against Belgium – home tonight and away on Tuesday – before a Wembley date with Portugal next month, and a trip away to Spain in June.
This Women’s Nations League, for England, is partly about preparation for the summer’s Euros and partly about positioning themselves nicely for the World Cup 2027 qualifying draw.
February’s 1-0 win against Spain saw the reigning European champions produce a suitably “English” performance to get the better of the world champions: Portugal host Spain in tonight’s other fixture in League A, Group A3.
England and Portugal are joint-top with four points from two matches apiece. Play their cards right and Wiegman’s side could be top of the pile in a few hours. Let’s go!
