England 1-1 Denmark (Kane 18’ | Hjulmand 34’)
DEUTSCHE BANK PARK — On a choppy pitch, England were all at sea.
A draw against Denmark in their second group stage match was just enough for a vital point, but another performance that has done little to excite or entertain.
England have almost certainly qualified for the knockouts at Euro 2024, but it did not have to be this hard, this painful, this… meh.
Surely it doesn’t have to be like this? Take the lead then drop back can surely not be the mantra that wins you a European Championship. For much of the 90 minutes it was copy and paste from the opening match against Serbia.
Why does it feel as though two games into a major tournament England still do not have a settled starting line-up, a clear direction, a consistency?
Gareth Southgate named an unchanged side and it was, largely, an unchanged performance. Arguably worse.
England should possess one of the best midfields in the world — it is a nation that is blessed with Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham — yet seemed not to have one for much of the game.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, who was on the pitch for his forensic passing, kept hitting them astray. Bellingham, the all-action hero against Serbia, kept running down rabbit holes. Unflappable Rice lost composure.
Southgate gave it eight minutes of the second half before substituting Alexander-Arnold for Conor Gallagher — the same change made against Serbia, albeit 15 minutes sooner.
That was an early one by the manager’s standards. Perhaps an admission, finally, that the Alexander-Arnold experiment hasn’t worked.
But where does that leave England, with one group game left and the knockouts looming, where higher ranked countries will likely pick this team apart? And with England needing a win to ensure they top this group.
It is probably too late to give teenager Kobbie Mainoo the experience to ease him into playing for England at a major tournament. Gallagher, while defensively relentless, may struggle against a France or Germany.
Again, like against Serbia, there had been a brief period of euphoric hope, a sense that this was the moment England’s tournament had really taken off, when they took the lead in the 18th minute.
The pitch cut up badly — really poor for such an occasion — so badly down the right-hand side that after 10 minutes Kyle Walker, who had twice slipped and risked turning ankle, signalled for a change of boots with longer studs.
It proved a masterstroke of prescience eight minutes later. Victor Kristiansen thought he had time on the ball only for Walker to set off like he had heard the starter gun in the Olympics 100m final, catching the Dane on his blindside and stealing the ball.
When Walker made it into the penalty area he was fortunate with the pass across, which ricocheted between several players, but there was nothing but certainty about Harry Kane’s finish.
A 13th goal in a major tournament — three now ahead of Gary Lineker — and only the third England player, behind Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney, to score in four successive major tournaments.
But, as happened against Serbia in the first game, after taking the lead England appeared unsure what to do with it. Denmark, who had not been bad before their opponents scored, were all over England like a rash: uncomfortable, irritating, itchy.
And they were rightly rewarded with an equaliser in the 34th minute.
Kane played an uncharacteristically slack crossfield pass from inside England’s half. It was intercepted, before Morten Hjulmand unleashed a fantastic effort into the bottom left corner from at least 30 yards.
Still no changes at half-time, but Southgate went early with Alexander-Arnold. And maybe some of the criticism, the accusations of negativity and a lack of invention, have permeated through. Whatever the cause, the England manager threw the dice with 20 minutes remaining, taking off Foden, Kane and Saka for Jarrod Bowen, Ollie Watkins and Eberechi Eze.
Maybe the substitutions changed the tone of the game — England were the better side of the second half — but it didn’t change the outcome of the match.
It means there is a storm coming for Southgate in the days ahead.