Led by captain Harry Kane, who was finally on target, and Dortmund’s Jew Bellingham, England advanced to the quarter-finals of the World Cup by beating Senegal 3-0.
Jude Bellingham hugged everyone he met after his gala. The redeemed Harry Kane applauded the English fans, who celebrated “Sweet Caroline” in the stands – and dreamed of their first title in 56 years. Led by their finally accurate captain Kane and the tireless Bellingham, the Three Lions moved into the quarter-finals of the World Cup with an efficient 3-0 (2-0) win over African champions Senegal.
“We showed a lot of maturity and took our chances when they came,” said Kane. “It was a really good day for us.” When he redeemed his first tournament goal (45 + 3) he “didn’t have much time”, joked Kane: “I’m just a striker, I’m always happy when I score.”
Jordan Henderson (38th) had previously set the course for victory – Dortmund’s Bellingham was instrumental. Bukayo Saka (57th) made everything clear, this time Kane was the initiator. England remained undefeated in their eighth World Cup duel with a team from Africa. In the quarter-finals on Saturday, however, a completely different caliber awaits: defending champion France with super striker Kylian Mbappe. “It’s going to be a big battle,” Kane said.
Which TV station will broadcast the 2022 FIFA World Cup live?
- MagentaTV shows all 64 games live, 16 of them exclusively* (including two round of 16 and one quarter-final).
- ARD broadcasts 24 games live, including the final German group game against Costa Rica as well as finals and the final.
- The games of groups F, G and H are running on ZDF.
For Senegal, the boldly formulated dream of the world title ended in the first knockout round. 20 years ago, the Africans were in the quarter-finals, but without the injured Bayern Munich superstar Sadio Mane, the performance in Qatar was worthy of all honor. The last African team in the tournament is Morocco, who play their round of 16 against Spain on Tuesday.
The notorious Senegalese drummers and trumpeters provided a grandiose setting in the 65,985-strong Al Bayt Stadium. The gameplay couldn’t keep up at first. England controlled but didn’t know what to do with their possession.
First goal out of nowhere
And defensively, the 1966 World Champion was vulnerable. Senegal had the first big chance through Ismaila Sarr (22nd), after a bad pass from Harry Maguire. The Africans, spurred on by their recovered coach Aliou Cisse, upped the ante. After a mistake by Saka, goalkeeper Jordan Pickford had to save against Boulaye Dia (31′).
England looked battered – and then took the lead out of nowhere. The ball ran quickly forward on the left for the first time, Bellingham had an eye for Henderson, who deliberately put it in. The favorites were now wide awake, just before half-time Bellingham opened up another dangerous game situation with an attack and a strong pass to Phil Foden. He found his hitherto unfortunate captain – and Kane threw the ball into the net.
Storm legend Gary Lineker, who with ten goals in major tournaments is now “only” England’s number two behind Kane (11), celebrated 19-year-old Bellingham on Twitter. This is “incredibly good” and has his feet everywhere in the game. The English fans agreed to the Beatles classic “Hey Jude”. The game was decided.
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