(Football news) The Three Lions were on the brink of victory against perennial rivals Germany before an error by Nick Pope resulted in a 3-3 result at the Wembley Stadium. Harry Maguire, who is in torrid form was responsible for a couple of errors, the first of which led to an Ilkay Gundogan converted penalty while Kai Havertz doubled the advantage in the 67th minute. However, the hosts fought back valiantly, getting two goals in the space of four minutes from Luke Shaw and Mason Mount while a Harry Kane penalty gave England a 3-2 lead in the 83rd minute. Just when a win looked all but certain, an error by Nick Pope who fumbled Serge Gnabry's shot helped Havertz tap it in from close range for his second goal of the match.
England have now failed to win six games in a row for the first time in 29 years but will take solace in the fact that they showed immense character and fighting spirit to get back into the game after being two goals down. However, it’s clear that Southgate needs to get much more from his team if they hope to win the coveted World Cup trophy in Qatar later this year. As compared to the match against Italy, England’s first half performance was a notable improvement but the side was visibly low on confidence after a string of bad results. Southgate’s side showed plenty of fragility, especially with regards to misplaced passes and poor touches, but went on to grow into the match and create chances for themselves.
However, Maguire was responsible for Germany getting the first two goals after the centre back fouled Jamal Musiala and VAR corrected referee Danny Makkelie initial assessment of the challenge, rightly awarding a penalty that was converted by Ilkay Gundogan. That wasn’t all as Maguire was caught on the ball up the field and Germany broke away with Havertz scoring from a brilliant 25 yard effort into the top right corner. England, who were already low on confidence, fought back when Reece James' cross found Shaw at the back post and the left back’s shot squeezed past Ter Stegen’s legs, which was the Three Lions’ first non penalty goal in 250 minutes. England were level just a few minutes later when Bukayo Saka found Mount who found the back of the net in the 75th minute.
With both momentum and fans on their side, England then took the lead in the 83rd minute when Jude Bellingham was fouled by Nico Schlotterbeck and Harry Kane converted the penalty, much to the delight of the 90,000 home supporters. However, the jubilation was short lived as keeper Nick Pope couldn’t keep hold of Serge Gnabry’s shot from distance and Kai Havertz was at hand to convert from close range. Despite the character that England have shown in this particular fixture, Gareth Southgate will now be under pressure to drop Harry Maguire from his starting XI after another poor performance by the 29 year old. The player is clearly low on confidence and giving him gametime is not only proving to be a liability for his team but also not helping Maguire rediscover his form. The centre back has always been a reliable option for the England national team but with the World Cup fast approaching, players who can perform on the day are more important than those who have performed in the past.
Speaking after the match, England manager Gareth Southgate said “As a group they've come together this week. It's been a tough period for them and they've grown. You are always going to be exposed to pressure, we're going to a World Cup. We played a friendly here in March where Ivory Coast went down to 10 men and it became a non-event. We learnt nothing. But this week, we've learnt a huge amount. They've had to step forward and as a group come together. It's going to benefit us in the long term. A couple of errors have cost us the goals but I'm focused on the fact we played with tremendous spirit and belief that we haven't shown in the last few games. The crowd could see that. And they rose to it. We started the game a bit tentatively and you could feel it was a night where the crowd were with us but wondering how it would play out.
“We were not aggressive enough with our pressing – against a team technically very good. We kept going backwards and weren't as positive. But we had the best chances, great counter-attack moments and should have been ahead at half-time. All the goals we conceded were avoidable. At 2-0 we were looking into a difficult moment. Players have collectively talked as a group, on their own, with us. The whole experience is one we've needed to grow as a team. You're going to have pressure in the World Cup. It's coming. Better we feel it and learn how to deal with it. The players reacted in the right way. We showed some character but also a lot of quality in chances we created throughout the game and also goals we scored. The crowd stayed with the team, even at 0-2, and that was so important for us. We score, the roof goes off, we remember what it feels like to watch a goal go in… then we have a punch on the nose at the end."
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