Thomas Tuchel made an immediate positive impact when he took charge of the English Team national team with confident victories and the return of players who had been in demand by the fans. But the end of the international matches in June showed that England are still very fragile and need to correct a number of mistakes if they are to become a competitive side.
It looked like the international friendly against Senegal was going to be a quiet one for England when Harry Kane took advantage of Gordon's rebound and needed just a little bit of finesse to open the scoring for England. However, things turned out very differently.
As the first half progressed, the Senegalese team found their rhythm and began to trouble the English considerably with their physical imposition and tactical organization. This pressure quickly paid off and the Senegalese equalized just before half-time when Nicolas Jackson (a Chelsea player) slipped a low pass through for Sarr to finish.
The attacking impetus was maintained and Senegal found the breakthrough goal in the 62nd minute with plenty of support from their fans. Koulibaly played a great pass for Habib Diarra to shoot from no angle, beating goalkeeper Henderson. England tried to respond to the goal conceded and Belligham went close to reducing the deficit, but the VAR spotted a handball and ruled it out.
The deficit was enough to give Thomas Tuchel's side back the lead, with a lot of defensive imposition from Madueke and Toney. However, it was Senegal who scored in injury time, when Sabaly received a free kick in the box after a fatal counter-attack and secured the African victory, silencing the City Ground.
What does Senegal's victory mean for England?
As well as marking the first defeat for Thomas Tuchel in charge of the English national team, the scoreline also consisted of the first win for an African team in the history of soccer after 21 previous meetings, as England have 15 wins and 6 draws. This defeat will certainly have an impact on preparations against Andorra and Serbia in September.