{"id":214406,"date":"2025-09-10T02:46:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T02:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/214406\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T02:46:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T02:46:14","slug":"england-5-0-serbia-sep-9-2025-game-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/214406\/","title":{"rendered":"England 5-0 Serbia (Sep 9, 2025) Game Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"

England<\/a> took a giant step towards World Cup qualification with a 5-0 statement win in Serbia<\/a> as Thomas Tuchel’s side passed their biggest test yet with flying colours.<\/p>\n

Gareth Southgate’s successor has come under increasing scrutiny after a concerning June camp was followed by Saturday’s drab 2-0 Villa Park victory against minnows Andorra.<\/p>\n

But Tuchel insisted they were ready to “prove a point” against Serbia and so it transpired in Belgrade, where Harry Kane<\/a>‘s headed opener was quickly followed by Noni Madueke<\/a>‘s impressive first international goal.<\/p>\n

– Djed Spence becomes England’s 1st Muslim player<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

–\u00a0Haaland nets 5 as Norway keep pressure on Italy<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ezri Konsa<\/a> opened his England account in the second half, as did fellow defender Marc Gu\u00e9hi<\/a> after turning home the free-kick that followed Nikola Milenkovic’s sending-off for a foul on Kane.<\/p>\n

Substitute Marcus Rashford<\/a> added a fifth from the spot at the silenced Rajko Mitic Stadium, where a laser pen and whistle were used in a bid to distract the visitors before tempers flared in the stands and fans called for boss Dragan Stojkovic to leave.<\/p>\n

The result in Belgrade meant Tuchel’s side increased their stranglehold on the top of Group K, moving seven points clear of second-placed Albania<\/a> with three to play.<\/p>\n

The cavernous Rajko Mitic Stadium was partially closed on Tuesday due to, among other things, what FIFA called “discrimination and racist abuse” in June’s match against Andorra.<\/p>\n

England had spoken about UEFA’s three-step protocol in the build-up but, thankfully, the night appeared to pass without such an incident.<\/p>\n

\"\"Noni Madueke celebrates after scoring England’s second goal against Serbia.<\/p>\n

Tuchel made four changes against a Serbia side that lined up even more negatively than the England boss had expected, but his side kept patient as they sought to break down another low block.<\/p>\n

It was a slow start but they turned up the pressure midway through the first half, starting with Declan Rice<\/a> just failing to get a clean header on a Reece James<\/a> cross.<\/p>\n

Kane was unable to direct in Madueke’s deflected cross-shot and Anthony Gordon<\/a> was denied by Djordje Petrovic<\/a> as Serbia began to wobble, with England capitalising in the 33rd minute.<\/p>\n

The visitors had been taking a meticulous approach to set-pieces and Kane was inexplicably allowed to meet Rice’s outswinging corner with a header that went in off the post.<\/p>\n

A second England goal followed two minutes later. Morgan Rogers<\/a>‘ smart flick from Elliot Anderson<\/a>‘s pass put Madueke behind, with the winger keeping cool under pressure and smartly clipping home.<\/p>\n

A message to Serbian supporters was issued due to the use of a laser pen in the stands and another fan was blowing a whistle in an attempt to trick England’s players, but Serbia needed much more help than that and their furious fans called for boss Stojkovic to go at the half-time whistle.<\/p>\n

England smelt blood and extended their lead seven minutes into the second half.<\/p>\n

Petrovic could only spill a shot from Gordon into that path of Guehi to bundle on, with Konsa turning home at the far post.<\/p>\n

Serbia’s faint hopes of a comeback had gone up in smoke and the visitors continued to threaten, with Rice frequently finding himself in dangerous positions.<\/p>\n

There were scuffles in the home end just after the hour mark and Tuchel turned to his bench, including introducing debutant Djed Spence<\/a>\u00a0— a historic moment as he is understood to be England’s first Muslim player.<\/p>\n

The visitors continued to push for more and Serbia skipper Milenkovic was shown red for a hefty challenge on Kane as last man. Rice sent in the resulting free kick and Guehi did well to direct home from close range.<\/p>\n

Rashford and Rice had attempts as England kept their foot on Serbia’s throat, with Ollie Watkins<\/a> seeing a goal ruled out for offside.<\/p>\n

England were awarded a late penalty following a VAR review for a foul on the latter by Strahinja Erakovic<\/a>. Rashford slotted home the resulting spot-kick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England took a giant step towards World Cup qualification with a 5-0 statement win in Serbia as Thomas…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[221,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-214406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-soccer","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115177716818645616","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}