NOTTINGHAM – Boos rang out as England left the field after a 3-1 loss to Senegal in a friendly Tuesday which marked the first defeat of Thomas Tuchel's tenure as coach.
Senegal recovered from conceding Harry Kane's early goal to become the first team from Africa to record a victory over England.
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“We’re not going to panic. But for sure we know we need to do better,” England captain Kane told broadcaster ITV and suggested England had lost “that aggressive nature that we’ve had.”
In World Cup qualifying Tuesday, the Netherlands beat Malta 8-0 and Finland won 2-1 against Poland in a game that was had a lengthy delay because of a medical emergency.
England's landmark loss
Kane was the only player retained in Tuchel's starting lineup from last week's 1-0 win over Andorra, which had caused Tuchel to criticize his team's attitude. The changes brought little improvement.
Kane's record-extending 73rd England goal gave his team the lead in the seventh minute, when he bundled in after a goalkeeping error by Edouard Mendy.
Senegal was a step above Tuchel's previous England opponents Albania, Latvia and Andorra, and England conceded for the first time in his tenure in the 40th minute.
Nicolas Jackson chased down a long pass and hooked it back for the onrushing Ismaila Sarr to score after having outpaced Kyle Walker.
Senegal's second goal followed a long ball to Habib Diarra, who seemed to be attempting a pass of his own when the ball deflected in off goalkeeper Dean Henderson's leg.
Jude Bellingham thought he'd leveled the game for England with a goal at a corner in the 84th but it was ruled out for an earlier handball by Levi Colwill. Senegal made it 3-1 when Cheikh Sabaly finished off a counter in stoppage time.
“We’re not happy with the result. We had chances to equalize, big chances,” Tuchel said in his post-game news conference.
“It’s a learning (experience) — tough learning at the moment because we hate to lose, but that’s what it is,” the German added. "We go into a long break with a bad feeling and with a loss, which is simply not nice and which is not what we wanted."
Kane told Sky Sports that the team needs to show more urgency.
“Coming up to September," he said, "we want to start to get it right because once the new season starts the World Cup is soon around the corner. It's down to us and then the coach to work on areas to improve.”
Depay ties a Dutch record
Memphis Depay tied the scoring record for the Netherlands men's national team with two goals in the eight-goal win over Malta.
Depay scored in the ninth and 16th minutes for his 49th and 50th goals, equaling a record set by team great Robin van Persie. Depay hit 50 goals in his 102nd game for the Netherlands, while van Persie's 50th came in his 101st game in 2015.
Lewandowski-less Poland loses
Finland's game against Poland was suspended because of a medical emergency in the stadium with Finland leading 2-1. The game later resumed and the Finns hung on for the win.
It was Poland's first game since star Robert Lewandowski vowed he will not play for Poland again under coach Michal Probierz, who stripped the Barcelona striker of the captaincy.
It followed Lewandowski’s decision not to make himself available for the game against Finland and last week’s friendly against Moldova.
Finland leads Group G by a point from the Netherlands, but has played two more games. Poland dropped from first to third Tuesday. The top team in each group qualifies automatically for next year's World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The second-place team goes into playoffs.
In other World Cup qualifiers in Europe on Tuesday, Austria beat San Marino 4-0, Romania won 2-0 against Cyprus, Serbia beat Andorra 3-0 and Latvia drew 1-1 with Albania.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer