The Terenga Lions of Senegal have become the first ever African team to defeat England in football following a stunning 3-1 comeback win in an international friendly match at the City Ground on Tuesday night, handing Thomas Tuchel his first loss as Three Lions head coach.
It took only seven minutes for Harry Kane to put the hosts ahead in Nottingham as the Bayern Munich striker pounced on the rebound after Edouard Mendy had pushed a shot from Anthony Gordon to his path.
Crystal Palace forward, Ismaila Sarr, levelled the scores for the Senegalese team as he beat Kyle Walker to a Nicolas Jackson cross to poke home past Dean Henderson after 40 minutes. The goal was the first to be conceded by England under Tuchel’s management.
It went from bad to worse for England in the second half as Habib Diarra put Senegal ahead with a shot through Henderson’s legs just after the hour mark, before Cheikh Sabaly completed the comeback win with a stoppage time goal.
Jude Bellingham had a goal disallowed as England fell to an African team after going 22 games unbeaten.
In other friendly matches played on Tuesday, Mika Biereth continued his fine scoring form this year with the opening goal in Denmark’s 5-0 demolition of Lithuania, while Oleksandr Zinchenko scored 15 minutes from time to give Ukraine a 2-1 win over New Zealand.
Ken Sema scored a hat-trick in Sweden’s match against Algeria while Anton Jonsson Saletros made it 4-0 for the European side after 56 minutes. Ismail Bennacer struck eight minutes later to spark a comeback for the Desert Foxes.
Yassine Benzia made it 4-2 after 71 minutes, before Nabil Bentaleb scored in the 86th minute to make it 4-3 and ensure a nervy finish for Sweden, who held on to get a thrilling 4-3 win at the Strawberry Arena in Stockholm.