England 1-3 Senegal: Thomas Tuchel suffers first defeat as Jude Bellingham denied late equaliser
Thomas Tuchel suffered his first defeat as England manager as Senegal came from behind to a earn a deserved 3-1 friendly win at the City Ground.
The Three Lions were uninspiring in their World Cup qualifier win over Andorra on Saturday and Tuchel made it clear he expected much more from his players, urging them to bring the smiles to this encounter.
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They were very few of those as England fell to a first ever defeat against African opposition.
Harry Kane's early finish after Anthony Gordon's strike had been parried out gave them a strong start, though there had already been signs that Senegal would offer a real threat.
That continued throughout the first-half, with Dean Henderson forced into a five saves before the break, and it was therefore no surprise when the equaliser came.
Nicolas Jackson did well to keep the ball in play and hook a cross into the middle, where Kyle Walker was caught out as Ismaila Sarr got in front to finish well.
Senegal then took the lead after the break and it was all too easy for the visitors, a long ball over the top finding Habib Diarra and he was allowed to drive into the box and beat Henderson from a tight angle.
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Morgan Gibbs-White was a popular introduction on home soil and he made an impact, hammering a strike straight at Edouard Mendy after good work from Eberechi Eze.
Jude Bellingham thought he had snatched an equaliser with seven minutes remaining when he smashed in from close range from a corner, but that was chalked off after a VAR review as Levi Colwill was deemed to have handled the ball before it dropped to the midfielder.
The match was sealed in fitting fashion, England sloppy in taking a free-kick and caught out on the break in stoppage-time, leading to Cheikh Sabaly finishing cooly and boos ringing out around the City Ground.
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