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Two of the best teams in the world meet on Sunday at 7:45 pm when England take on Belgium in the Nations League – LIVE on talkSPORT.
England, ranked fourth in the FIFA rankings, will have to realistically beat the world’s number one team to keep their hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the competition alive.
AFP or licensees
You have done it once, do it again. England beat Belgium the last time the two teams met
Getting a result in Belgium shouldn’t be as daunting a prospect as it normally would be; after all, fans can’t get in.
But the Three Lions beat the Red Devils last month, coming back to win 2-1 at Wembley thanks to a penalty from Marcus Rashford and a goal from Mason Mount.
It promises to be an entertaining match and what neutrals will be able to take out of it in particular is to see some of the best players from both sides battle it out on the field.
But what would it look like if you mixed the two sides? talkSPORT.com has chosen a Belgium vs England combined XI.
Former Birmingham City manager Pep Clotet praises Gareth Southgate for calling up Dortmund’s wonderful kid Jude Bellingham to the England team
First things first: training. Belgium usually play 3-4-3, while Gareth Southgate has often used three more full-back defenders in his England line-ups.
The team doesn’t look that impressive when you look at the defense. Thibaut Courtois, who was not the most reliable towards the end of his time at Chelsea, is in goal.
He’s not featured in Belgium’s latest line-ups, but last season’s Champions League participation and injuries have been the reasons for that. Roberto Martínez is expected to pick the Real Madrid star on Sunday.
Meanwhile, it is still unclear who will be Southgate’s No.1 at Euro 2020 next summer. At the moment it is Jordan Pickford but the Everton goalkeeper has a lot of criticism for the mistakes he makes with his club.
Getty – Pool
It’s unclear if Pickford will be England’s No.1 for much longer.
Few would dispute putting Toby Alderweireld on all three defenses, but the other two spaces are up for debate.
It should be noted that England have been minimized on defense, with Joe Gomez leaving camp with a knee injury in training. Harry Maguire is suspended for this match following his red card in England’s last Nations League clash against Denmark.
So it was a fight between Conor Coady, Eric Dier, Michael Keane or Tyrone Mings and we have chosen the Spurs teammate from Alderweireld.
The last position in defense went to Jason Denayer. Dedryck Boyata and the other England defenders were in dispute, but the former Manchester City player assures it as he is a regular player in the Belgium team and played a major role in helping Lyon reach the Champions League semi-finals. Last season.
Denayer (left) and Alderweireld (right) played together against England last month
In terms of wings, we’ll go easy pick first, which is Ben Chilwell on the left. Belgium doesn’t have much to do there and Chilwell is Southgate’s first choice there when everyone is fit, so the Chelsea player enters by default.
On the right, Trent Alexander-Arnold is injured by what was between Thomas Meunier and Kieran Trippier.
If we got out of World Cup form, Meunier would almost make it, but we’ve opted for Trippier, which was huge when England beat the Belgians – Southgate compared ‘Bury Beckham’ to a soldier afterward and Trippier’s absence against the Danes was felt.
Getty – Pool
Trippier left the Spurs in 2019 after a poor 2018/19 season, but his career has been reborn at Atlético de Madrid and England.
The standard is set very high in the midfield with Belgium with Axel Witsel and Youri Tielemans in their ranks, while England have Mount, Declan Rice, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden and Harry Winks in the middle.
But Kevin De Bruyne and Jordan Henderson make the cut. They are both among the first names on their respective managers’ team sheets and would play well together. Henderson could sit further, leaving De Bruyne to work his magic on the attack.
It’s also quite a star-studded front. The big decision came in between: Harry Kane or Romelu Lukaku. They are both in great shape, but we have chosen Kane. As good as Lukaku is, Kane’s form this season shows that he is better at bringing more forwards into the game.
getty
It was a tough call, but talkSPORT.com almost favored Kane over Lukaku
Which brings us to who ranks in the last two places. Once again, several talented players were in the running, like Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford for England, while Belgium has players like Dries Mertens and Thorgan Hazard.
But we have opted for Raheem Sterling and Eden Hazard. The latter has not been the Chelsea player since he arrived from Real Madrid, but in his day he is the best of all.
Belgium vs England combined XI
Listen to the full Belgium vs England commentary LIVE on talkSPORT on Sunday at 7:45 pm
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