England set up quarter final clash with France after win over Senegal
Gareth Southgate and Aliou Cissé will have expected their respective sides to play with a lionheart, although they had an early scare each as Boulaye Dia almost broke through before Bukayo Saka harassed Abdou Diallo in his own box.
Even so, the Three Lions slowly asserted themselves as they saw plenty of the ball with John Stones heading a chance high and wide.
However, it was Senegal who had the best opening of the first half-hour as Dia’s shot was blocked by Stones before the ball fell to Ismaïla Sarr, who fired over from close range as Jordan Pickford fell at his feet.
Dia then forced Pickford into the game’s first big save with a strike that skipped off the turf.
Having survived those concerning moments, England showed the quality to go ahead as a slick move culminated in Jude Bellingham sliding the ball across for Jordan Henderson to coolly finish.
After previously enduring two games without a first-half goal, the Three Lions had two in 10 minutes as Bellingham strode forward and played the ball to Phil Foden, who slipped in Harry Kane before the captain clinically struck for his 10th FWC goal contribution.
Cissé responded to that double blow with a triple change at HT, though it did little to change the flow of the game, and a venomous Kane strike had to be awkwardly saved by Édouard Mendy as England played with freedom.
Just moments later, Foden left Youssouf Sabaly in his wake before setting up Saka for a wonderfully dinked finish that brought an extra layer of comfort for Southgate’s side.
With Senegal’s situation looking bleak, Pape Matar Sarr hit a hopeful free-kick that never looked like troubling Pickford despite hitting the side netting.
While Marcus Rashford couldn’t quite turn his late effort on target, the Three Lions roared through to the quarter-finals, where they will face France having kept three consecutive clean sheets whilst also equalling their best-ever goalscoring campaign in this competition.
Meanwhile, Senegal fell a game short of their best finish after joining Nigeria and Ghana as the third African nation to qualify for the knockout stages twice.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Jude Bellingham (England)
