England v Belgium Preview

Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions come face to face with the Red Devils in their second and final friendly match of the March international break at the iconic Wembley Stadium on Tuesday.

We are currently in the middle of the final international break of the 2023/24 football season across the the world, and on Tuesday, 26th March 2024, Gareth Southgate’s England is to take on Belgium in their second and final game of the March International Break. The friendly game is set to kick off at 19:45pm under the arch of the iconic Wembley Stadium.

A sole goal from Real Madrid bound forward Endrick in the dying embers of the second half of Saturday night’s competitive contest (80’) sunk England in the first friendly of this current international break.

This imminent upcoming game at home to Domenico Tedesco’s Belgium is another opportunity for players to impress Three Lions Head Coach Gareth Southgate. If they do well against the Red Devils and continue to perform at club level, their chances of being part of the England squad heading to the 2024 European Championships in Germany, which are set to begin in June.

Tuesday night’s game is set to see Arsenal’s Declan Rice lead the England team out at Wembley Stadium as the team’s captain for the first time in his career, with the likes of Harry Kane and Kyle Walker out of this game thanks to injury.

This is what Rice had to say about this significant moment of his career to date (via BBC Sport): “On my 50th cap, to walk out at Wembley in front of my family and friends, it is a great honour – I’m a bit speechless.

“It is a pinch-me moment, it will be an honour. I was absolutely lost for words when (manager Gareth Southgate) said to me I was going to be captain.”

In terms of team news, as mentioned earlier, Harry Kane remains out whilst Kyle Walker will also not be part of the team facing Tedesco’s side at Wembley on Tuesday evening after an injury that the Manchester City right back picked up in the defeat against Brazil on Saturday.

Manchester United’s Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw, Crystal Palace’s Sam Johnstone, Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka and Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold are also out of the contest against the Belgian Red Devils.

It seems likely, according to BBC Sport, that Ivan Toney will be starting this game in place of Kane, with Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins given an opportunity in the game against Brazil. As mentioned earlier, Gareth Southgate will be giving as many players a chance to impress as possible and earn their place in the starting eleven for the competitive matches in the future.

The most recent game to have been played between England and Belgium took place at the King Power at Den Dreef in Leuven on 15th November 2020 in the UEFA Nations League. It was a 2 – 0 defeat for Southgate’s Three Lions with current Aston Villa midfielder Youri Tielemans (10’) and forward Dries Mertens (23’), who currently plays his club football for Turkish Giants Galatasaray.

However, on a much more positive note, England were able to emerge as 2 –  1 winners the last time that these two met under the arch at the iconic and historic Wembley Stadium, also in the UEFA Nations League. The game took place on 11th October 2020, and the goals for the home side were scored by Marcus Rashford from the penalty spot (39’), whilst his Manchester United teammate Mason Mount was also there to score for England that day (64’). Former Chelsea and current AS Roma forward Romelu Lukaku (16’, Penalty) who scored the only goal for Belgium in that particular game.

Overall, England and Belgium have faced each other a total of 25 times in all competitions to date, including their first-ever clash in what was a 2 – 0 international friendly victory for the Three Lions at the Stade a Molenbeek-Saint-Jean in Brussels, Belgium, on 21st May 1921. Charlie Buchan, who played for Sunderland at the time, opened the scoring midway through the first half (33’) before Harry Chambers, who was playing his club football for Liverpool at the time, scored to make it 2 – 0 in the latter stages of the second half (76’).

It is England with the most victories in this fixture with 16 in total compared with 5 for Belgium. There have been 4 draws between these two giants of the international game as of the time of writing.

Excitement and anticipation are building ahead of this second and final international match of the March international break and the resumption of the 2023/24 Premier League season on Saturday 30th March 2024.

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