A game to forget for England… (Photo: Getty)
England’s lacklustre Euro 2024 campaign continued on Thursday with a woeful 1-1 draw against Denmark in Frankfurt.
Harry Kane gave the Three Lions an early lead but Morten Hjulmand’s stunning equaliser earned the Danes a more than deserved point, and leaves Gareth Southgate with lots and lots of work to do.
With Serbia salvaging a late 1-1 draw against Slovenia in the other Group C game, The Three Lions knew that victory would seal their place in the knockouts as group winners.
But England have never won their opening two games of a European Championships, with Denmark, on paper, being their toughest opponents of the group stage.
Despite criticism of their opening 1-0 win over Serbia, Southgate named an unchanged line-up for this clash, while Kasper Hjulmand made one change to his Denmark side which contains several top Premier League stars.
It was a cagey affair in the opening minutes as the sides looked to suss each other out while getting used to a very slippery, ‘Sunday League’ pitch.
The turf looked to have caused an injury issue to Kyle Walker, but thankfully the right-back only needed a new pair of boots.
Harry Kane opened the scoring for England with a neat finish (Photo: Getty)
Eventually, England found their rhythm, with Phil Foden nicely working his way into the box but the subsequent shot flew over the bar, but it wasn’t long before the ball found the back of the net.
Walker brilliantly burst forward, winning the ball off a half-asleep Victor Kristiansen before bursting into the box to tee up captain Kane for a nice finish.
But then, fans’ worst fears were realised. Instead of driving home their advantage, England, just like against Serbia, began to sit deep and lose control, allowing the Danes’ confidence to build.
In the 34th minute, Kane went from hero to zero, sloppily giving the ball away following a throw-in, with Hjulmand taking advantage and firing a thunderbolt from distance into the bottom left corner.
Morten Hjulmand equalised for Denmark with a thunderous strike (Photo: Getty)
It was a wake-up call for England, yet not one that the players seemed to hear, with mis-placed passes, failed attempts to dribble out of trouble and a general lack of cohesion all over the pitch.
Denmark had a few close chances in the meantime, with Joachim Andersen heading over from a corner while Jordan Pickford did well to deal with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s powerful effort.
Foden, maligned from the first match, was determined to make himself the hero, but could only aim a tame effort at Kasper Schmeichel after a great run, before firing over again with the last kick of the first-half.
Things improved somewhat after the break, with Foden smacking the post and Bukayo Saka hitting the side netting, but frustration among fans in the stadium and at home was mounting.
Gareth Southgate hauled his front-three off in the second-half (Photo: Getty)
With Plan A well and truly in the mud, Southgate turned to his bench, and in a radical change brought Kane, Saka and Foden off for Ollie Watkins, Jarrod Bowen and Eberechi Eze.
This certainly livened things up with Watkins getting behind the defence and drawing a fine stop from Schmeichel.
Denmark, who should be widely praised for their performance, retaliated, Hojbjerg again forcing Pickford into action.
Marc Guehi looked to have gifted Alexander Bah a golden opportunity but the centre-back raced back to stop the attack and moments later Hojbjerg came close to a late winner but couldn’t curl his effort into the top corner.
While England remain top of the group, with qualification for the knockouts almost guaranteed, their opening two games have shown that the Three Lions are at present nowhere near the level they could and should be.
Much, much better will be expected in their final Group C game against Slovenia next Tuesday.
More to follow…
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