Danny Welbeck scored the only goal of the game as England beat Belgium at Wembley in final match ahead of Euro 2012.

It was the kind of audacious decision that marks out genuine talent. Faced with a difficult angle and an onrushing goalkeeper, Danny Welbeck could have been excused of simply putting his foot through the ball and hoping. Yet the Manchester United player instead scooped up the ball with his weaker left foot, watched it hang in the air, and then wheeled away in gleeful celebration. It was a moment that may well have put his name on Roy Hodgson’s team sheet for England’s opening game with France on Monday week.

It was also a piece of attacking flair out of keeping with the rest. As against Norway last week, England struggled to build attacks and were careless in their passing at times. They have the pace to hurt teams on the counter but lack the ability to dominate the ball.

As the game drew to a close it became stretched – and with it more entertaining. Gillet, the Belgium right-back, hit a superb shot from range that Hart could only watch as it hit the top of the post. England responded in kind, Jermain Defoe, on for Young, jinking to his right in the box and send a shot against the far post. Defoe then hit the side-netting after a crisp England counter to show effective he might be off the bench in the coming weeks. Hodgson will need every tactical weapon he can lay his hands on.

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