LONDON :Superb goals by Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze secured a routine 2-0 win for England over Serbia to make it seven wins from seven games in their World Cup qualifying campaign at a rain-soaked Wembley Stadium on Thursday.
Saka dispatched a clinical volley in the 28th minute to open the scoring and with many of the crowd already departed, substitute Eze curled home in the 90th minute.
With England having already qualified for next year’s finals in North America as Group K winners, it was a rather tepid clash with defeat ending Serbia’s hopes of grabbing a playoff spot.
England have 21 points from their seven games and have yet to concede a goal heading into Sunday’s final group game away to Albania who guaranteed second place and a playoff spot with a 1-0 win in Andorra.
Aside from the two goals by Arsenal teammates Saka and Eze, it was a largely forgettable affair as England lacked urgency at times and Serbia had no real quality.
There was an encouraging England senior debut for young Manchester City left back Nico O’Reilly while the biggest cheer of the night came with the appearance of Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham off the bench midway through the second half, his first England appearance since June.
Bellingham did not have much of an impact although he did play a part in the sweeping move that had fellow substitute Phil Foden tee up Eze for a sensational curling finish.
“There’s a lot of talent in the team. You can see the players here and the types that aren’t here as well,” Eze said of the depth of talent available to coach Thomas Tuchel.
“It’s the type of competition you want to be up against and it is going to help the team for sure.”
Serbia did put up more resistance than in the 5-0 home drubbing by England in September and Dusan Vlahovic twice went close to equalising but defeat capped a sorry campaign for the Serbs who will miss out on next year’s finals.
