England moved closer towards 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification with a 5-0 away victory over ten-men Serbia in Belgrade.
Harry Kane nodded in England’s opening goal from Declan Rice’s 33rd-minute corner, before Noni Madueke netted his first England goal just two minutes later from Morgan Rogers’ flick-on touch of Elliot Anderson’s pass.
Ezri Konsa extended the Three Lions’ lead with a 52nd-minute close-range rebound strike from Marc Guehi’s touch of Anthony Gordon’s blocked shot, whilst Guehi netted their fourth goal from Rice’s free-kick following a red card for Serbia’s Nikola Milenkovic due to a foul on Harry Kane.
Marcus Rashford wrapped up victory in the 90th minute with a penalty after Ollie Watkins had been fouled by Strahinja Erakovic.
England now sit seven points clear at the top of UEFA’s Qualifying Group K as Albania moved up to second with a 1-0 home win over Latvia.
With five points separating Serbia from group leaders, England, prior to kick-off, it was unsurprising that both teams were evenly matched in the opening phases despite England’s Rice’s sixth-minute shot being saved by Djorde Petrovic.
Kosta Nedeljkovic almost broke the deadlock for Serbia with a 18th-minute strike from a cleared corner which Jordan Pickford comfortably saved.
England thereafter upped their intensity as Rice saw a header saved and Gordon saw a shot saved, before Kane flicked Madueke’s 28th-minute square-ball pass wide of the bottom left corner.
Reece James’ 32nd-minute cross eventually forced the breakthrough as his delivery was cleared behind for a corner, which Rice whipped in toward Kane who nodded into the bottom left corner to put the Three Lions ahead.
England further extended their lead from a clever 35th-minute pass from Elliot Anderson which Rogers flicked on for Madueke to meet, and the right winger calmly thumped the ball past Petrovic into the empty net to double the visitors’ lead at half time.
Play however was briefly paused in the 39th minute by referee, Clement Turpin, after the Frenchman noticed use of lasers within the crowd, which led to a stadium announcement that such behaviour and use of Pyros wouldn’t be tolerated.
Given that England’s first-half performance marked a huge upgrade on their turgid home win over Andorra last weekend, the Three Lions were tested early in the second half by a fast-starting Serbian team.
England however clinched a decisive third goal to end Serbia’s hopes of a comeback after Gordon saw a 52nd-minute shot blocked by Petrovic, with Konsa alert to smash in the rebound at the left post from Guehi’s brief sideways touch to effectively settle the contest.
Rice saw further shots blocked as England continued their dominance whilst Serbia’s night hit a new low in the 72nd minute, as Milenkovic was controversially red carded for a foul on Kane out wide towards the right flank.
Serbia’s frustration over Turpin’s rash decision to red card Milenkovic worsened from the resulting free-kick as Rice’s delivery was flicked into the far-right corner by Guehi for the defender’s first senior international goal, after he escaped Strahinja Pavlovic’s marking.
England almost further punished Serbia as substitute, Marcus Rashford forced a 79th-minute block from Petrovic to stop his curled shot, before Watkins was offside as he poked in Jarrod Bowen’s low cross just three minutes later.
Serbia’s disastrous night sunk even further after Erakovic brought Watkins down in the 88th minute and after a Video-Assistant Referee review, Rashford rolled the penalty past a helpless Petrovic into the bottom left corner to condemn their hosts to a first home loss since September 2023.
The second-half was briefly marred by an incident in the stands which required use of riot police to break up a brief spell of violence amongst the home fans caused by political differences, which was swiftly resolved before it spiralled into a serious incident.
England Hit New “Bar”
England manager, Thomas Tuchel post-match praised his squad for their response to the Andorra display with a more intense display complete with improved teamwork and quality.
“We played with a lot of intensity, a lot of work in teamwork and we showed our quality. We kept Serbia to no shots on target and you have to put in a lot of work to do that, a lot of intensity and the invisible work that you do not get praise for. It is good to watch.”
Tuchel proceeded to add that the performance now set a “bar” for what will be expected of them moving forward across their final three qualifiers
“It takes time and in between there are weeks of pause. The players did excellent. The credit goes to them, they did amazing – that’s the bar.”
What’s Next?
Serbia host Albania in their next qualifier on 11 October before they visit Andorra on 14 October, ahead of their visit to England on 13 November in their penultimate match ahead of their last qualifier at home to Latvia on 16 November.
England turn their attention to a home friendly against Wales on 9 October at 19:45pm BST before they resume their World Cup Qualifying campaign on 14 October, with a trip to Latvia in a 21:45pm EEST (19:45 BST) kick-off.
Teams
Serbia: Djorde Petrovic, Strahinja Erakovic, Nikola Milenkovic, Strahinja Pavlovic, Kosta Nedeljkovic (Jovic 46′), Nemanja Maksimovic, Sasa Lukic, Veljko Birmancevic (Kostic 46′), Andrija Zivkovic (Veljkovic 76′), Ivan Ilic (Samardzic 61′), Dusan Vlahovic (Mitrovic 71′)
Substitutes: Srdan Babic, Nemanja Gudelj, Veljko Ilic, Luka Jovic, Aleksandar Katai, Filip Kostic, Aleksandar Mitrovic, Uros Racic, Dragan Rosic, Lazar Samardzic, Milos Veljkovic, Nikola Stulic
England: Jordan Pickford, Reece James (Spence 69′), Ezri Konsa, Marc Guehi, Tino Livramento, Elliot Anderson, Declan Rice (J.Henderson 81′), Noni Madueke (Bowen 76′), Morgan Rogers, Anthony Gordon (Rashford 69′), Harry Kane (Watkins 76′)
Substitutes: Jarrod Bowen, Dan Burn, Eberechi Eze, Morgan Gibbs-White, Jordan Henderson, Dean Henderson, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Jarell Quansah, Marcus Rashford, Djed Spence, James Trafford, Ollie Watkins
Referee – Clement Turpin (France)