AAs boos echoed through an increasingly emptier Wembley Stadium on Friday and the pitch was dotted with paper airplanes, thoughts drifted back to a similar scene eight years ago, another friendly in the lead-up to the European Championships. The opponent was Portugal and there were boos even though Chris Smalling headed in the winner from Raheem Sterling’s cross with four minutes remaining. Just over a month later, England were knocked out by Iceland in their first game since the EU referendum, struggling to make a fresh start under Sam Allardyce while Portugal were European champions.
Indeed, in that friendly match, Portugal had Bruno Alves sent off 10 minutes before half-time; those eager to trace cause and effect after the fact might conclude that among their resistance there were A clue to Portugal’s final tenacious victory. There is, of course, plenty of evidence of just how fluent England will be in the coming weeks. But it would be more accurate to say that pre-season friendlies are quickly forgotten.
No one is upset that England lost 1-0 to Iceland in their last friendly before this summer’s Euros, France drew 0-0 with Canada, Germany needed a last-gasp goal to beat Greece, etc. Get carried away with the facts. But the final warm-up game cannot be completely ignored. England’s performance against Iceland highlighted some of the doubts about the team. England have rarely felt so consistent heading into a tournament. No one doubted they would play a 4-2-3-1 formation, and seven or eight starters was a no-brainer. But Harry Maguire’s injury has left them lacking dominance in the air, and there are serious problems in midfield and on the left.
Newsletter Promotion Post
What Friday perhaps confirmed is the need for a dynamic and aggressive Declan Rice to play alongside him in midfield. It wasn’t just the lack of fluidity in the attack, it was the openness that led to Iceland’s goal and possibly more that was concerning. That could mean Conor Gallagher taking over for Kobbie Mainoo. Jude Bellingham will return to a central creative role, which could mean Phil Foden on the left.
But this creates a problem because Foden naturally moves infield, so the balance requires a full-back who can step outside of him. Luke Shaw is the only left-footed defender in the squad but he has not played since a hamstring injury in February. He won’t be fit until England’s second game against Denmark at the earliest, with Gareth Southgate deeming the need to play him a sign of the lack of alternatives. Kieran Trippier is likely to come on as a substitute in the opening game against Serbia, meaning England will have very limited attacking width down the left.
Southgate is a meticulous planner: Shaw feels like a gamble that has been forced upon him, and the uncertainty in midfield, the failure to find Kalvin Phillips or Jordan Henderson The replacements are unusual. The mood last Friday, that feeling of wanting everything to go well, felt very old England, very much pre-Southgate. However, as Portugal 2016 showed, it is also true that sometimes things do fall into place. Even the best teams – Spain in 2010, Germany in 2014, Argentina in 2022 – sometimes have to grow together.
Not just any team can enter the tournament in impressive form. Defending champions Italy were beaten comfortably by England twice in qualifying, and while they may have improved under Luciano Spalletti, they drew 0-0 with Turkey and 1-0 in the past week. 0 performance in the defeat against Bosnia and Herzegovina was lackluster.
Hosts Germany endured a dismal year in 2023, culminating in a 4-1 loss to Japan and Hansi Flick becoming the first ever German coach to be sacked. The team improved under Julian Nagelsmann, with Toni Kroos returning to midfield along with Roberto Andric a major factor, but following wins over the Netherlands and France in March, the team fell 0-0 A 0-0 victory over Ukraine and a 2-1 victory over Greece dampened expectations.
France have the best squad of this World Cup, but N’Golo Kante’s re-introduction shows how worried Didier Deschamps was about the lack of balance in the midfield in the defeat to Germany in March. Kylian Mbappe represents a conundrum, on the one hand a very talented finisher, but on the other hand he sometimes fails to get involved: in the semi-finals and final of the World Cup in Qatar, he had to take a step back from his Substitute for favorite team.
Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo has a similar problem, he’s not the same player he once was, but he’s still picked due to Roberto Martinez surrounding him with a talented team. Spain has an excellent midfield, but its forward line with Alvaro Morata at its core is unconvincing. The Netherlands have strong, experienced defenders and plenty of players willing to run, but unusually the midfield lacks real class, while Belgium’s post-golden generation side still rely on Kevin De Bruyne and Ronaldo. The aging duo of Melu Lukaku came to score.
But that’s the beauty of international football. nobody is perfect. No one can just go out and buy a balanced squad, and the lack of time available means the system is far less sophisticated than at club level. If anything, these flaws add to the spectacle. The concern for England is that they are a bit too big and appear at the wrong time.
-
This article is excerpted from Jonathan Wilson Football, The Guardian’s weekly coverage of football matches across Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email Footballwithjw@theguardian.com and he will answer the best answers in a future edition
