Senegal beats England 3-1 in friendlies

England suffered a humbling 3-1 loss to Senegal in a friendly at the City Ground in Nottingham on Tuesday, adding pressure on head coach Thomas Tuchel just a year before the World Cup.

Despite an early goal from captain Harry Kane that gave the Three Lions the lead, Senegal hit back emphatically through Ismaila Sarr, Habib Diarra, and Cheikh Sabaly to hand England their first-ever defeat against an African side.

Tuchel had already voiced strong dissatisfaction with his team’s uninspiring 1-0 win over Andorra in their World Cup qualifier just days earlier.

Looking to spark a response, the German manager made sweeping changes to the starting lineup—retaining only Kane from the previous match.

It took just seven minutes for the England captain to maintain his record of scoring in every game since Tuchel took charge.

Former Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy should have done better when he could only parry Anthony Gordon’s shot into the path of Kane, who tapped in his 73rd international goal.

Dean Henderson was given a rare chance to impress in the England goal as Jordan Pickford was relegated to the bench.

The Crystal Palace stopper made impressive saves from his club team-mate Sarr and Idrissa Gana Gueye.

But he was helpless when Sarr made the most of a lack of concentration from Kyle Walker to meet Nicolas Jackson’s cross and fire into the bottom corner.

England had never lost to African opposition in 22 previous matches but Senegal had been beaten just once from open play since losing to the Three Lions at the 2022 World Cup.

Diarra was afforded acres of room to run in behind the England defence and slot between the legs of Henderson to put the visitors in front just after the hour mark.

Mendy made amends for his role in the opening goal with fine saves to deny Bukayo Saka and Morgan Gibbs-White a swift equaliser.

England thought they had levelled late on when Jude Bellingham smashed home from a corner.

But the goal was ruled out for a handball by Levi Colwill before the ball broke to the Real Madrid midfielder.

Senegal made the most of that reprieve to seal a famous win in stoppage time when Sabaly rounded off a slick counter-attack.

Boos rained down from the disgruntled home support to leave Tuchel with plenty to ponder before England are next in action in September.