By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) -Superb goals by Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze secured a routine 2-0 win for England over Serbia to make it seven wins from seven games in their World Cup qualifying campaign at a rain-soaked Wembley Stadium on Thursday.
Saka dispatched a clinical volley in the 28th minute to open the scoring and with many of the crowd already departed, substitute Eze curled home in the 90th minute.
With England having already qualified for next year’s finals in North America as Group K winners, it was a rather tame clash with defeat all but ending Serbia’s hopes of qualification.
England have 21 points from their seven games and have yet to concede a goal heading into Sunday’s final group game away to Albania who guaranteed second place and a playoff spot with a 1-0 win in Andorra.
“We had to adapt and be flexible and put a lot of effort into the match especially in the first half,” England coach Thomas Tuchel told reporters. “We lacked a bit of precision maybe we could have created more and scored earlier to be a bit more calm. It was a very tight match.”
Aside from the two goals by Arsenal teammates Saka and Eze it was a largely non-descript contest as England lacked urgency at times and Serbia had no real quality.
There was an encouraging England senior debut for young Manchester City left back Nico O’Reilly whose blocked shot looped up for Saka to sidefoot a majestic left-foot volley beyond Predrag Rajkovic for his 14th England goal.
There was also a record-extending 10th clean sheet in a row for England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford. However, the biggest cheer of the night came with the appearance of Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham off the bench midway through the second half, his first England action since June having missed the last two camps.
Bellingham joined the fray along with Phil Foden, who had not appeared for England since March, and Eze and they combined for a sweeping move that ended with Eze curling a delightful finish into the top corner.
Foden, playing as a number nine, looked lively and missed the target with a header while Eze also hit the woodwork before capping a fine cameo with his third England goal.
“We had good impact from the bench straight away. We brought on quality players and they wanted to show what they showed,” Tuchel said. “Phil is in good shape and Phil can make any team better in an offensive position. He is all smiles. He is full of confidence and you see it in the first touches and movement.”
Serbia did put up more resistance than in the 5-0 home drubbing by England in September and Dusan Vlahovic twice went close to equalising but defeat capped a sorry campaign for the Serbs who can no longer make the playoffs through the group.
(Reporting by Martyn HermanEditing by Christian Radnedge)
