International friendlies: England beat Netherlands, France lose to Colombia

Jesse Lingard's goal helped England beat Netherlands 1-0 for the first time in 22 years while Colombia came from behind to defeat France 3-2.

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International friendlies: England beat Netherlands, France lose to Colombia
This was Jesse Lingard's first international goal for England (@England Photo)

In Short

  • Jesse Lingard's goal helped England beat Netherlands 1-0
  • This was England's first win over Netherlands in 22 years
  • Colombia beat France 3-2 after being 2-0 down in France

England ended a 22-year win drought against the Netherlands thanks to Jesse Lingard's strike for a 1-0 triumph while France threw away a 2-0 lead to lose to Colombia 3-2 at home in international friendlies on Friday.

Gareth Southgate's World Cup-bound England side were superior for much of the match, organised and in control even before Manchester United midfielder Lingard's 59th minute goal secured their first win over the Dutch since Euro '96.

(International Friendlies: Germany hold Spain 1-1, Brazil sink Russia 3-0)

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The Netherlands, still smarting from missing out on this year's finals in Russia after a second straight failure to qualify for a major championship, were left with little to cheer at the start of reconstruction under new manager Ronald Koeman.

The home side got lucky soon after halftime when a clear foul on Marcus Rashford in the penalty area was waved away.

But the visitors were soon rewarded for their control and some neat passing movements when a loose ball fell to Lingard, who swept it home with a clinical right-foot finish from just outside the box for his first senior international goal.

The result and, more importantly, the assured performances from some of Southgate's supposed fringe players gave encouragement to the England boss, who was in the team that last beat the Netherlands 4-1 at Wembley in 1996.

"It was a good test for us, we came away from home and controlled the game," he told ITV Sport. "We used the ball really well for 60, 65 minutes. Maybe more quality in the final third was required but we were very solid."

He was also happy with the way his three-man defensive unit worked, even after he had lost Joe Gomez to injury in the opening 10 minutes and had to bring on Harry Maguire to join John Stones and Kyle Walker.

"The back three were excellent and the goalkeeper (Jordan Pickford) too, the way they were able to play from the back," said Southgate. "They played with real composure, and played with intelligence too."

He was delighted for his matchwinner Lingard too. "He's a player we've worked with for three or four years from the Under 21s and this year he is starting to finish the chances," the manager said.

England captain Jordan Henderson enthused: "The three at the back, we look solid with that shape and it gives licence for us to pick up positions in midfield."

England, who had not won in Amsterdam since 1969, now have one more friendly against Italy on Tuesday before Southgate finalises his squad for Russia.

LACK OF COMPOSURE FROM LES BLEUS

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Les Bleus were 2-0 up midway through the first half thanks to goals by Olivier Giroud and Thomas Lemar, but Luis Muriel halved the deficit before the break with Radamel Falcao and Juan Quintero scoring in the second half.

Before kickoff, there was a minute's silence in memory of the three people who were killed in southwestern France by a gunman who held up a car, fired on police and seized hostages in a supermarket earlier on Friday.

France started with N'Golo Kante and Blaise Matuidi as holding midfielders, Paul Pogba being left on the bench because of a muscle problem and a lack of playing time at Manchester United, according to assistant coach Guy Stephan.

Pogba, however, came on as a second half substitute but had little impact.

Les Bleus enjoyed most of the possession and they were rewarded in the 11th minute when Giroud scored his 30th international goal as he knocked the ball in after David Ospina mishandled Lucas Digne's cross from the left.

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It was Giroud's ninth goal in the last nine games he started for France.

Lemar made it 2-0 in the 26th from inside the box after being set up by his former Monaco team mate Kylian Mbappe, who had collected a fine back heel by Antoine Griezmann.

But France lacked focus and two minutes later, Hugo Lloris misjudged Muriel's cross, which found the back of the net at the far post.

The visitors were more active in the second half and Falcao beat Lloris in the 62nd minute as he latched onto a cross from James Rodriguez.