Jude Bellingham smiled again at his selection. After England’s bitter defeat to Greece at Wembley, the European runners-up found their way back to victory in Finland. The Real Madrid man did not score, despite being the main character in the 1-3 scoreline that the Three Lions won at half-time and dispelled any temporary doubts.
It was not the most ideal scenario for the English team, even though they had to face the weakest opponents in the group. After being relegated to League B in the Nations League, reaching the Euro Cup final and ending the Gareth Southgate era, they were obliged to return as soon as possible to be in the top 16 of the tournament. However, they hit rock bottom at Wembley against a Greece side that overcame them, despite Bellingham.
The Madrid man then equalized in the final minutes, but the Hellenes won, raising all the doubts in the English parish. So the clash with Finland was more a battle against themselves than against their opponents. For their part, the Scandinavians tried to take advantage of the possible crisis of the English, although they did not succeed.
Lee Carsley, the coach of England, Luis de la Fuente, who had many successful years as the head coach of the U-21 team, took advantage of the opportunity and made many changes compared to what was seen against Greece. All this despite the fact that there is no room for speculation, even though a team as inferior as Finland is facing them.
The one who did not rotate was Jude Bellingham, who started alongside Rice, Arnold, Palmer and Stones. The only five repeaters in a team that included Grealish, Kane, Walker and Henderson in goal. The powder rose to try to overcome a Finnish team that came without scoring.
The game was a peaceful one for England, who won without any trouble and dispelled any talk of a crisis. Grealish, who Southgate did not want to send to the Euro Cup, scored England’s first goal. There would be time in the second half for Trent Alexander-Arnold, who Real Madrid are keeping a close eye on – and even more so after Carvajal’s long-term injury – to score a second.
The third came without Bellingham on the pitch. The Madrid player was taken off in the 80th minute, replaced by Phil Foden. Declan Rice took third place for the European runners-up, while Hoskonen now scored the final score of 1-3.
In this way, Bellingham ended his international break and returned to Madrid unscathed. The Whites, marked in these FIFA windows by injuries, thus achieved that one of their stars quickly resolved his two international commitments and returned to Valdebebas to once again be under the command of Carlo Ancelotti.