MARTIN SAMUEL AT THE AHMAD BIN ALI STADIUM: Just 98 seconds. That’s all it was. The difference between England the sterile, the tame, and England marching into the World Cup knock-out stages, buoyant and energized again, Senegal standing between Gareth Southgate’s players and a place in the quarter-finals.
That’s tournament football for you. England struggled to break down Wales in the first-half when 11 men gathered behind the ball and sometimes in their own penalty area.
And then in minutes 50 and 51, two goals and blessed relief.
England were on top of Group B with seven points and a goal difference that eventually read +7.
To put this into perspective, Holland qualified from Group A with seven points and a goal difference of +4, and nobody thinks he is holding the team back.
Once again, Southgate made several big calls and they came right. Marcus Rashford, selected ahead of Raheem Sterling, scored twice and started the move for another. Phil Foden scored and won the free-kick that ultimately broke the deadlock. Jude Bellingham did look better with Jordan Henderson and Declan Rice doing the midfield dirty work.