Serbia v England: World Cup 2026 qualifying Group K – live | World Cup 2026 qualifiers
Key events
“Elliot Anderson quietly impressive again,” says James Walsh. “Apologies if this was covered on Saturday, but who was the last Forest player to start for England before these two caps for the former Newcastle lad? I want to say Collymore or Pearce.
“It’s a nice distraction from the clown show week at The City Ground, anyway!”
I’d need to check but I think it was Stuart Pearce against Italy at Le Tournoi on 4 June 1997.
Half time: Serbia 0-2 England
England have five toes in next summer’s World Cup after a quietly dominant first-half performance in Belgrade. They had to be patient against a good Serbia defence but were rewarded for their superiority with two fine goals in the space of three minutes. Harry Kane headed Declan Rice’s corner into the net from 12 yards, then Noni Madueke scored his first international goal after a delicious flick from Morgan Rogers.
45+1 min Vlahovic has a pop from 20 yards. Well struck but too high, and the last kick of the half.
45 min “In light of the length of the tunnel in Belgrade does the referee allow the teams an extra two or three minutes at half time?” wonders David Wall. “If they only get the regulation 15 minutes then, by the time they make it back to the changing room and sit down, their cups of tea wouldn’t be cool enough to drink before they have to head back out to reach the pitch in time. And if there’s a queue for the bathroom, or if someone has indigestion from their pre-match meal, then you can forget it.”
The half-time break used to be five minutes. This lot don’t know they’re born.
44 min “As a Chelsea fan, I’m very biased, but I’m so glad to see Reece James doing well,” says Neal Butler. “He’s had such a terrible time with injuries, so seeing his name positively mentioned in an MBM is a real treat.”
Isn’t it just. He seems a really nice guy too so I’d imagine 99 per cent of football fans wish him well.
42 min Rogers’ flick for the second goal gets better every time you see it: the awareness, vision, timing and best of all the nonchalance.
41 min A tannoy announcement, presumably about that incident a moment ago, has been met with loud jeers.
40 min Gordon pulls back Nedeljkovic and is booked.
40 min Philip Cornwall, who is in Belgrade, says a laser pen was flashed in the England penalty area – that might have been why Turpin stopped play.
39 min The referee Clement Turpin is running towards the touchline to talk to the fourth official. Lee Dixon, commentating on ITV, thinks something may have been thrown onto the pitch.
Turpin is happy for now and play has resumed.
Anderson played a short pass to Rogers, just inside the Serbia half. He flicked the ball nonchalantly into the space for Madueke, who timed his run perfectly and scampered through on goal. Madueke ran into the area, cut across Pavlovic – who couldn’t touch him – and clipped the ball over Petrovic with authority. That’s another excellent goal; Rogers’ touch was delightful.
GOAL! Serbia 0-2 England (Madueke 35)
And that’s Noni Madueke’s first international goal!
34 min That was Kane’s 74th international goal.
Rice curled an outswinging corner from the right towards the penalty spot, where the unmarked Kane stooped to guide a precise header through the crowd and in off the far post. Lovely finish.
GOAL! Serbia 0-1 England (Kane 33)
Harry Kane gives England the lead with a superb header!
31 min After a long preamble, Reece James blasts the free-kick into the wall. It hit the arm of Birmancevic but I’m pretty sure it was tight to his body; no word a VAR check.
The Gordon shot a few minutes ago came from a good off-the-ball run from left to right. After a slow start he is looking dangerous.
29 min England are starting to create chances. Gordon’s daisycutter from 20 yards is pushed away from the diving Petrovic, then Kane is pulled over by Lukic in the D. He’s booked and England have a free-kick in a very good position.
28 min: Kane goes close
How did that stay out? Rogers turned superbly and released Madueke on the right side of the area. His low cross-shot deflected towards Kane, whose closae-range shot somehow ricocheted just wide of the far post.
The referee gave a goalkick but there was definitely a touch from a Serbia player, possibly the keeper too.
26 min Good play from Gordon, who zips into the area from the left and pings a speculative shot that is beaten away by Petrovic. It was a nice run from Gordon, slow-slow-quick before he veered between two defenders to create a shooting chance.
23 min James flips another nonchalant early cross into the middle. Rice arrives beyond the far post but his header back across deflected into the keeper’s hands.
Most of England’s best attacks have come down the right.
19 min Anderson curls a good pass out to James, whose dangerous early cross is headed behind for another England corner. Nowt comes of it.
18 min Serbia win their first corner. It’s taken short and worked infield to Nedeljkovic, whose long-range shot takes a deflection and is easily saved by Pickford.
17 min A better spell for Serbia, whose first extended spell of possession ends when Birmancevic is unable to control an awkward crossfield pass with his head.
13 min Anderson loses the ball in a dangerous are and Serbia break two on two. Vlahovic takes the wrong option, turning back onto his left foot and allowing Livramento to dispossess him.
10 min Rice’s corner is headed away by Milenkovic (I think), but it’s only a temporary reprieve for the Serbia defence. England are having all of the ball.
9 min Konsa clips a nice pass over the top to James, who controls the ball on the run and moves into the area. Pavlovic comes across to concede a corner; that was an important interception.
6 min Strong start from England, who are pinning Serbia back in the 5-4-1 formation that Thomas Tuchel flagged before the game. Rice has a shooting chance from 20 yards but doesn’t make the cleanest contact and Petrovic saves comfortably.
4 min Madueke threatens to get away from the left wing-back Birmancevic, who leans on him right on the edge of the area. No foul but a promising start from Madueke.
3 min England win an early free-kick on the right wing. Rice’s delivery is unusually poor and Serbia clear.
1 min Peep peep. Declan Rice has the first kick of the match, with England playing from right to left as we watch.
Jacob Steinberg
The Serbia manager Dragan Stojkovic has been roundly booed by the home fans here. I’m told by the Serbian journalist next to me that this is because he’s come out in support of the government, who have been facing protests this week.
These gentlemen are lining up for the anthems as we speak
Serbia (possible 3-2-4-1) Petrovic; Erakovic, Milenkovic, Pavlovic; Nedeljkovic, Maksimovic, Lukic, Birmancevic; Zivkovic, I Ilic; Vlahovic.
England (4-1-4-1ish) Pickford; James, Konsa, Guehi, Livramento; Anderson; Madueke, Rogers, Rice, Gordon; Kane.
Referee Clement Turpin.
Thomas Tuchel’s pre-match thoughts
Same formation for us – and it looks like the same formation for our opponents. It looks like a classic 5-4-1 defensively. I was hoping for a little more risk but they left Mitrovic and Jovic out and they have more defensively minded players. Okay; we will try to find solutions.
[On Elliot Anderson] He impressed me a lot; he played with a very natural rhythm and self-confidence. He understood very quickly what we wanted, so why not keep him in the team?
[On what will happen if England players are racially abused] We are aware of the protocol and the steps we would need to take. But we focus on sport and we hope everyone else will too.
Most of you will remember Serbia’s coach, Dragan Stojkovic, as a player. For those who don’t, here’s a sensual little treat from Italia 90.
The players on a yellow card
“Evening Mr Smyth!” writes Adam Hirst. “Be good to see England getting a welcome this warm in Belgrade tonight. Would see more people enjoying these international breaks.”
Our man David Hytner takes the walk through the tunnel in Belgrade.
All hail Endi Kol
Our production editor Philip Cornwall is in Belgrade and has sent in an email. Given his sub-editing expertise, it’s no surprise what’s on his mind.
One odd thing about how they do names here: they transliterate them within the Latin alphabet, or transliterate to Cyrillic and then reconvert to the Latin alphabet.
Jacob Steinberg
The FA wrote to travelling England fans to remind them that Serbia have been sanctioned with a partial stadium closure by the Fifa as a punishment for discriminatory fan behaviour during their recent match against Andorra.
The note informs England fans about procedure should they experience any racist or discriminatory language or behaviour at any England fixture: “FA staff will be visible and available throughout the match. Please reach out to a member of staff if you feel uncomfortable. They will be dressed in England training attire.”
Serbia team news
Dragan Stojkovic makes four changes to the team that beat Latvia 1-0 on Saturday. Kosta Nedeljkovic, Nemanja Maksimovic, Veljko Birmancevic and Strahinja Erakovic come in for Aleksandar Katai, Filip Kostic, Milos Veljkovic and Luka Jovic.
Serbia (possible 3-2-4-1) Petrovic; Erakovic, Milenkovic, Pavlovic; Nedeljkovic, Maksimovic, Lukic, Birmancevic; Zivkovic, I Ilic; Vlahovic.
Subs: Rosic, V Ilic, Gudelj, Jovic, Mitrovic, Kostic, Veljkovic, Babic, Stulic, Racic, Samardzic, Katai.
England team news: Tuchel makes four changes
Ezri Konsa, Tino Livramento, Anthony Gordon and Morgan Rogers replace Dan Burn, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Marcus Rashford and Eberechi Eze in the England side. That means another start for Elliot Anderson, who made an impressive debut against Andorra on Saturday.
Lewis-Skelly isn’t even in the matchday squad. I assumed he was injured but apparently that’s not the case.
England (4-1-4-1ish) Pickford; James, Konsa, Guehi, Livramento; Anderson; Madueke, Rogers, Rice, Gordon; Kane.
Subs: D Henderson, Trafford, Quansah, J Henderson, Eze, Rashford, Burn, Spence, Gibbs-White, Loftus-Cheek, Watkins, Bowen.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to Guardian Sport’s live, minute-by-minute coverage of Serbia v England in Belgrade. Let’s start with our chief football writer David Hytner’s preview.
Harry Kane has played before at the Red Star Stadium in Belgrade. It was with his former club Tottenham in 2019 and it is for good reason that the England captain lists it among his top three most intimidating away venues. The others, for the record, are Marseille’s Vélodrome and Galatasaray’s Rams Park.
Kane went to the former with Spurs in 2022 and it did not matter that the Virage Nord was closed after incidents involving the Marseille support. He sampled the ear-splitting whistles of the latter with his current club, Bayern Munich, in 2023. Red Star’s ground is called the Rajko Mitic Stadium these days but the basic malevolence has not changed.
“It’s just the walk from the changing room to the pitch – it feels like a mile long,” Kane said. “There’s a lot of fans, you hear a lot of noise, a lot of banging. So, yeah, it was pretty hostile.”
Kane returns with England for the World Cup qualifier against Serbia on Tuesday night and it promises to be a frenzied occasion, even if almost 15% of the stadium will be empty on Fifa orders. The governing body has doled out the punishment after the discriminatory behaviour of Serbia’s fans against Andorra in June.
The pressure will come not only from the hardliners in the home seats but from those in the visiting enclosure and many more on sofas up and down England. Because this is a tie that has the trappings of a moment of truth.
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