Belgium ease to comfortable 2-0 win over England

Belgium's Brandon Mechele, Youri Tielemans and Dennis Praet celebrate after the match - Reuters

LEUVEN, Belgium (Reuters): Early goals by Youri Tielemans and Dries Mertens earned Belgium a comfortable 2-0 win over England to strengthen their grip on top spot in Group A2 while ending the visitors’ hopes of reaching the Nations League Finals in Leuven on Sunday.

England had to win to put themselves back in with a chance of winning the group, but Gareth Southgate’s side found themselves chasing the game after Tielemans put the hosts in front after 10 minutes.

Harry Kane had an effort cleared off the line soon after but it got even worse for England when Mertens curled home a delightful free kick after 23 minutes.

Belgium, the world’s top-ranked side, held on with few real alarms against an unimaginative England side who enjoyed plenty of possession without creating many clear chances.

Roberto Martinez’s Belgium side must now only avoid defeat on Wednesday against Denmark, who beat Iceland 2-1, to win the group. A second successive defeat for England, after a home loss to Denmark, left them in third place in the group with one match to come at home to Iceland.

Defeat was Southgate’s 10th while in charge of England from 48 games, but skipper Kane felt England were unlucky.