HOPE: Mainoo & among 4 stars who have timed the run perfectly ahead of Euro 2024
England may have failed to win two games against top opposition at Wembley, but the real winners and losers of this international break were always going to be individuals.
This is audition season, when team-mates are rivals just as much as those in opposition.
Is it little wonder we saw two very different team performances when players are motivated more by self-interest than that of the collective? That is not a criticism, it is a reality of international football on the eve of a major tournament.
A lifetime of training, travelling, matches, watching, listening, learning, it could all boil down to 90 minutes or less. Friendlies? The competition is fierce.
Against Belgium, it was telling that those assured of their place in Germany - the likes of Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden - were not at their very best until the closing stages when England pressed to avoid defeat.
Those busting a gut, by comparison, were the understudies whose role in the final show is yet to be determined.
For some, it was more bust than busting, and you suspect their chance has now gone. As Southgate said: 'We needed to expose the areas that we are short in.'
Here, we take a look at those winners and losers…
Kobbie Mainoo
An England Under-21 player last week, a starter for the senior side this. And now, you feel, favourite to start alongside Rice this summer.
It was his bravery that stood out against Belgium. Not in the tackle, but in possession. At 18, he could have played it safe, negotiated his full debut without risk of making a mistake. Some more experienced colleagues still play like that.
But Mainoo, at times, was like a winger in the middle of the park - dribbling, dropping a shoulder, always looking to move the ball forward.
His nutmeg
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