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England’s Brave Thomas Tuchel might be starting to understand why they call it “The Impossible Job”. On a balmy evening by the River Trent, it took Harry Kane just eight minutes to score against Senegal, and surely leave the edgy disquiet of Saturday’s 1-0 win over Andorra behind. The fun summertime vibes didn’t last long: three Senegal goals later, the final whistle was met with a volley of boos and jeers, England coming up distinctly second best to their opponents. England’s men’s side had never lost to an African nation before, but a record that probably should have fallen at Italia ‘90 was finally claimed in June 2025 – and deservedly so. Senegal may have benefited from funky interpretations of both the handball rule and VAR intervention when Jude Bellingham’s equaliser was chalked off, but this was their night. “I want to congratulate my players for the tremendous performance and mindset they showed out on the pitch today,” manager Pape Thiaw said afterwards. “From the very beginning, they showed they wanted to win.”
Ever the diplomat, Thiaw also offered some encouragement to Senegal’s beaten hosts. “Well done to England as well, they showed some good form in certain periods of the game,” he said. The Daily must have drifted off for those bits, presumably somewhere between the visitors’ three quickfire goals, each smashed at speed past a leaden-footed defence. Cheikh Sabaly’s stoppage-time goal was exactly the kind of emphatic exclamation point that will empty a home stadium with maximum efficiency, leaving Senegal’s players to celebrate with their fans in a sole joyous corner of the City Ground.
