Declan Rice took his place in the England line up against Belgian and was controversially punished by a very poor refereeing decision which led to the home side scoring a second goal and running out 2-0 winners.
The result ensured that England will not be taking part in the finals of the competition.
On the announcement of his involvement in the game , West Ham’s official Twitter account tweeted ‘Back in action once again for his country!’
But there was an awful moment for our captain when he won he got a foot to a ball heading for De Bruyne and was then punished with a free kick against him when the Belgian had clearly kicked him.
The result was a Mertens free kick which was hammered past a helpless England keeper.
The Hammer had been left out of the friendly against Ireland but was involved from the start as the Belgians took a 2-0 lead on his 12th appearance and that’s how it stayed until the end.
Earlier this week – in praising his international skipper Harry Kane – Rice made it clear that it was his dream to captain his country in the future.
As usual quality of refereeing sub standard, should have been a foul on Rice. Genuinely think though failing to qualify for this tinpot tournament will be a blessing.
Agree it was never a free kick so very unlucky, but he’s got to learn to stop diving in around the edge of the box.
My friends were only talking about this during the Man City game, he gives a lot of free kicks away in dangerous positions, something my mate picked out and now he‘a pointed it out I now notice it.
No doubt he’ll learn from it.
Terrific effort from Mason Mount from similar position later on in the game. Different class these Belgians. England need less looking after and more practice with the ball. Antonio and Grealish?
COYI