Key events
Half-time entertainment (sic)
“Rob Dearest,” begins Mac Millings, and that’s rarely a good sign. “Inspired – if that’s the right word (and it’s not) – by Simon McMahon’s suggestion a few days ago, please allow me to present my All-Time Chat Up Lines XI. Regular readers will not be surprised to find that McMahon’s contributions are the best two.
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I’m glad I brought my library card, because I’m Petr Čeching you out
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Fabio Canna-buy you a drink?
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If you and I were socks, we’d make a great Per Mertesacker.
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Are you always this hot, or do I just have a Dan Burn?
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Are you a thief? Because you John Stollmeyer heart
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I need a map, because I just got lost in Youreyes Tielemans
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If I said you had a beautiful body, would Rick Holden against me?
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I must be a time traveller, because I can see you in my Paulo Futre
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Do you know what’s on the menu? La Me-n-U Yamal
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Desiré Doué come here often?
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Is that a Nwankwo Kanu in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?
Sub: Did an Angel Gomes fall from heaven?
Coach: I need an oxygen mask, because you just Thomas Tuchel my breath away.
Half-time reading
Half time: England 1-1 Senegal
That was fun half to watch, if not necessarily to play in for England’s second string. Harry Kane, the only survivor from the Andorra game, gave them an early lead but Senegal were the more cohesive side and Ismaila Sarr’s equaliser didn’t come as a surprise.
45+1 min Two minutes of added time.
45 min That’s the first goal England have conceded under Thomas Tuchel, so Ismaila Sarr joins a club that includes Allan Hansen, Tony Cascarino, Samir Nasri, Iago Aspas, Ilie Dumitrescu, Aki Riihilahti and Jerzy Brzeczek.
44 min Walker takes out his frustration on Diouf and is booked.
A long, straight pass down the inside-right channel was reached near the byline by Jackson, who hooked a dangerous first-time ball into the middle. Sarr got in front of Walker, who was on his heels, and finished decisively from eight yards. That’s a well-worked goal, although Walker will know he could have done better.
GOAL! England 1-1 Senegal (Sarr 40)
A deserved equaliser for Senegal.
39 min Malick Diouf, the young Sparta Prague left-back who has dominated Saka, again wins the ball high up the field to spark a Senegal attack. Diouf is 20 years old, and he’s coming to a transfer rumour near you soon.
36 min: Another good save by Henderson! Ndiaye, on the left side of the area this time, tries to tee up the onrushing Gueye with a square pass. It’s slightly overhit but Gueye does well to retrieve the ball and force a shot through the crowd from 15 yards. Henderson plunges to his right to beat it away. That’s probably his best save yet as he saw it late.
34 min A quiet few minutes.
31 min Camara’s free-kick is headed away at the far post by Chalobah, who has started well on debut.
30 min Jackson, 30 yards from goal, loses Colwill with a gorgeous first touch and is brought down. Yellow card for Colwill.
28 min: Chance for England Saka frees Walker, who looks up and shapes a terrific ball across the face of goal. Eze dummies/misses the ball at the near post and Gordon shoots fractionally wide at the far.
At first it looked a bad miss but on reflection he was under a lot pressure from the sliding Diatta, and the cross was fractionally behind him. Still a good chance mind.
27 min A quiet spell. It’s still an even game, with Senegal continuing to challenge England via the press. It feels like England are slowly working it out, though, and another goal in transition wouldn’t come as a complete surprise.
24 min “When you say this game has a standalone appeal,” says Alex Netherton, “is that the same standalone appeal you have when propped up with a sausage roll in Greggs?”
How the hell do you know about my Tinder profile pic?
22 min It’s been a good start to the game – open, competitive and enjoyable to watch. England friendlies are not always worth a damn; the first quarter of this game has been worth several.
20 min Anthony Gordon has started the game well, particularly in transition. He isn’t as highly regarded as many in the squad but his pace and directness offer something England have been missing for a while.
Time to make him captain for me.
18 min Rice drives the free-kick low and into the crowd at the near post, one from the training ground you’d imagine. But on this occasion it’s booted clear by a defender.
17 min Diatta sends Gordon flying just outside the area and is booked by the referee Stephanie Frappart. That definitely wasn’t a dive by Gordon.
15 min: Good save by Henderson! Senegal work the ball classily from right to left, where Diouf curls an excellent first-time cross. Sarr gets between the two centre-backs and powers a downward header that is pushed round the post by the diving Henderson. Sarr’s header wasn’t right in the corner but that was still a pretty good save.
12 min Corner to England on the left. Chalobah and Jackson, club teammates, start tugging each other, promoting the referee to have a quick word.
Rice’s corner is headed away.
11 min Senegal again win the ball in the England half, which soon leads to a rising drive from distance by Diarra (I think). Henderson pushes it up in the air and claims at the second attempt.
10 min That’s Kane’s 73rd goal for England, which puts him one clear of Richie Tenenbaum.
Gallagher and Eze won possession 30 yards from goal, then combined to give Gordon a shooting chance just inside the area. His shot wriggled out of Mendy’s grasp and was tapped into the empty net by Kane.
GOAL! England 1-0 Senegal (Kane 7)
Harry Kane gives England the lead against the run of play.
6 min I should have said that Senegal has started with Ndiaye on the right, where that chance originated, and Sarr on the left.
5 min: Good save by Henderson! Lovely move by Senegal. Ndiaye cuts inside from the right, beating Gallagher with a nice piece of footwork, and reverses a short pass into the area for Jackson. He drills a low shot from the angle that is kicked away by Henderson.
4 min Senegal have started well, pressing aggressively and pinning England in their half.
3 min Eze has started high up the field for England, essentially as a second striker. Imagine if England won the World Cup playing a rigid 4-4-2. In the parlance of our times, I’m here for it.
2 min Idrissa Gueye drills a routine 20-yarder that is easily saved by Henderson.
2 min ITV’s Sam Matterface reminds us that England have never lost to an African team. For a split-second I thought he was wrong, then I remembered that England won the Italia 90 quarter-final against Cameroon. To this day, I know not how.
1 min Senegal, in green, kick off from right to left as we watch.
The players are running late, so kick-off will be around 7.50pm.
A few of you have pointed out that I originally had Aliou Cisse, not Pape Thiaw, managing Senegal. Apologies for that. “Not the glorious return I hoped!” says Scott Rutherford.
I may as well apologise in advance for the errors I’ll make once the match begins. My health isn’t great at the moment so my brain is even slower than usual, but I’ll do my best. It’s not an excuse, it’s a reason!
Reasons to wish every human being on the planet was like Bukayo Saka, No294815
Tucker the cockapoo arrived while Saka was rehabilitating from surgery. “It was a bit tough at first because he’s a puppy and I couldn’t really get after him. But it was a good experience.”
There was also more time for reading. One book in particular, Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, struck a chord. “I read nonfiction,” Saka says. “One of the books I was given by Carlos [Cuesta, Mikel Arteta’s assistant coach] was called The Power of Now. A really good book. It’s about not thinking about the past, not thinking about the future, just being in the moment and always asking yourself what’s necessary right now.
This is a good piece from Jonathan Wilson on why Thomas Tuchell is so keen to have Jordan Henderson around
The details of Henderson’s performance against Andorra are largely irrelevant. Some players thrive against minnows, some struggle in a game very different from the high-level fixtures with which they are more familiar. How you play against Andorra is not going to determine whether you have a part in a potential World Cup-winning side. But one recovery run to stymie an Andorra counter after Dan Burn had lost possession caught the eye; Henderson, at least, was switched on. And it was after he was substituted after 63 minutes that England slipped into the individualism that so annoyed Tuchel.
Henderson is a professional, the non-commissioned officer maintaining discipline and morale, ensuring the plan is followed and standards maintained. He has captained a team that won the league and the Champions League. During the Covid lockdown, he emerged as a de facto spokesperson for the players. He has the respect of his peers. And that is no small thing.
One of Thomas Tuchel’s biggest challenges is to stop English football’s never-ending arm-wrestle with a self-loathing subconscious.
The scale of that challenge is shown by one slightly clunky statistic. If they are to win the World Cup, England will surely at some stage need to beat one of the other seven World Cup winners in a knockout game. The last time they did outside England was [checks notes, shrieks a bit] 1962.
Senegal team news
Pape Thiaw has named a strong side, which includes seven past and present Premier League players – and probably a couple of the future as well. The front three of Ismaila Sarr, Nicolas Jackson and Iliman Ndiaye should kept England’s defence honest.
Senegal (possible 4-3-3) E Mendy; Diatta, Koulibaly, Niakhate, M Diouf; Diarra, Idrissa Gueye (Everton), L Camara; Sarr, Jackson, I Ndiaye.
Substitutes: M Camara, Y Diouf, I Camara, Seck, Dia, Sabaly, C Ndiaye, Jakobs, Niasse, Idrissa Gueye (Metz), Sima, Diaw, A Mendy, P Gueye.
England team news: Tuchel makes 10 changes
Thomas Tuchel has changed all bar one of the team that started against XI. The odd man in is the captain Harry Kane. It was probably part of the plan all along; either that or he’s channelling his inner John Sitton.
Chelsea centre-back Trevor Chalobah is the most notable inclusion; he makes his international debut alongside his club teammate Levi Colwill.
England (4-2-3-1) Henderson; Walker, Chalobah, Colwill, Lewis-Skelly; Gallagher, Rice; Saka, Eze, Gordon; Kane.
Substitutes: Pickford, James, Konsa, Gibbs-White, Henderson, Bellingham, Burn, Toney, Alexander-Arnold, Jones, Rogers, Madueke, Palmer, Trafford.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to the City Ground the Guardian liveblog bunker for live coverage of England v Senegal at the City Ground. Thomas Tuchel isn’t in the business of selling tickets or building hype, but his unsparing appraisal of England’s performance against Andorra – Kevin the Teenager tribute included – has increased the interest in what could otherwise have been just another friendly.
This is only the second meeting between the sides, a slight surprise given their status in world football. The first was in the last 16 of Qatar 2022, when England surged to a 3-0 victory after an even first 35 minutes.
The next World Cup is the endgame for Tuchel and England, but tonight’s match has a standalone appeal that probably wasn’t there 72 hours ago.
Kick off 7.45pm.
#England #Senegal #mens #international #football #friendly #live #Friendlies
