Soccer Football - International Friendly - England v Belgium - Wembley Stadium, London, Britain - March 26, 2024 Belgium coach Domenico Tedesco before the match Action Images via Reuters/Matthew Childs
LONDON (Reuters) - Belgium coach Domenico Tedesco said it would have been special had his team held on to their 2-1 halftime lead at Wembley on Tuesday but he had no complaints about the result after Jude Bellingham snatched a stoppage-time equaliser for England.
Two goals by Youri Tielemans either side of an Ivan Toney penalty had the visitors eyeing the win in a clash between the teams ranked third and fourth, despite a stirring England display that ended with a last-gasp leveller.
"With five seconds to go it would have been something very special and fantastic," Tedesco said. "I think that England were really strong, they created many, many chances. You had a feeling from the very beginning that they want to win the second game here (after losing to Brazil on Saturday). That’s why I think the result is OK in the end."
Although they failed to claim a first win in England after six defeats and a previous draw, it did extend Belgium's unbeaten run under Tedesco to 12 games and they, like the hosts, will take much more from Tuesday's high-octane encounter than from their goalless draw with Ireland on Saturday.
"Their speed and one touch is unbelievable, it's not easy against them. They have quality in every position," he said of England.
"But in the first 15 minutes we created our goal and some other chances on the counter-attack. Defensively we controlled it more in the second half but it's not easy to control a team like this for 90 minutes."
Tedesco was asked why he thought Tielemans looked such an accomplished finisher on Tuesday having struggled against Ireland after the Aston Villa man cashed in on England mistakes to score two excellent goals.
"He had more space today than against Ireland," the coach said. "You get that against a team who always want to play.
"Counter attacking is automatically a weapon and I think we can hurt teams with that - but England have the same weapon.
"But we should have started the game with the same defensive intensity that we showed in the second half."
Tedesco said he was less concerned about the result that extended his unbeaten run than taking lessons from the two matches in this international break.
"We still have to work, to select and take all the information we got out of this camp," he said.
"We hope everyone is fit – we missed Kevin De Bruyne tonight and a few others were not at their physical best.
"We are focused on the first game (of the Euros) against Slovakia and now we know we will also face Ukraine – but it’s step by step."
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips; editing by Toby Davis)
