A dominant England booked their spot in the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, after beating Senegal 3-0 at the Al Bayt Stadium on Sunday night.
The English will now meet defending champions France in the quarter-finals after the French dispatched Poland 3-1 earlier in the day. Argentina and Holland are also already through, and will meet in the last eight.
England confirmed prior to the game that Raheem Sterling had left the camp for family reasons, and it was unclear whether he would be returning.
It was the English who had the better of the opening exchanges, and while there were a few shaky moments, the Senegalese defence were able to thwart any early attacks.
Chances for Senegal were rare, and on the counter, but Ismaila Sarr went close in the 23rd minute, firing over from close range.
The English continued to dominate first-half possession, but the next best chance fell to Senegal, however, Jordan Pickford made an excellent save to deny Boulaye Dia’s shot just past the half-hour mark. It would be the only real save Pickford would have to make.
Just as the Senegalese looked to make inroads, it was England who would take the lead, as a swift attack led to Jude Bellingham making an excellent run into the box before delivering a cross to Jordan Henderson, who slotted home to make it 1-0 in the 38th minute.
England made it 2-0 in first-half stoppage time, as they threw themselves forward in numbers with a late counter-attack and Harry Kane was at the end of the move and made no mistake to score his first goal of the tournament.
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England continued their dominance in the second half and Bukayo Saka made it 3-0 in the 57th minute, delicately chipping the ball from Phil Foden’s cross over an advancing Edouard Mendy.
It was a clinical performance from Gareth Southgate’s team, who managed the remainder of the game, to set up the showdown for a semi-final place against the French on Saturday.
The end of the road for Aliou Cissé and the African champions, with all of the continent’s hopes now on Morocco to cause an upset.
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The round of sixteen matches will continue tomorrow when Japan take on Croatia in the early game before Brazil face South Korea.
The final quarter-final places will be booked on Tuesday when the Moroccans take on 2010 champions Spain, before Switzerland face Portugal.
