England held by North Macedonia, Italy survives against Ukraine

In the first duel between North Macedonia and England five months ago, the Three Lions won 7-0, and there was no indication that there will be a problem ahead of tonight’s rematch. Manager Gareth Southgate said his ambition is for England to be ranked No. 1 in the world – and they needed an impressive win in North Macedonia to help them get there. But he also said that he didn’t like how England played in a 2-0 win over Malta. And he was right, as his players had another sub-par performance in Skoplje and drew 1-1 with North Macedonia. England managed just one goal of their own in both matches – the other two were own goals. The much more interesting match was seen in Leverkusen, where Ukraine was the host of the game with current European champions Italy and needed a win to qualify for EURO 2024, but the game ended in a goalless draw, sending the Ukrainians to the barrage.

Southgate has made six changes to the side, which defeated Malta 2-0 on Friday. Harry Kane was finally rested, and Ollie Watkins got the nod, while young Manchester City sensation Rico Lewis made his England debut at left-back. And he was in the middle of the ‘incident’ which gave North Macedonia the lead. Lewis caught Miovski almost accidentally in the face in the penalty area, and the referee initially didn’t give a penalty, but the VAR room intervened and, after a lengthy check, gave the penalty to the hosts. Bardhi scored for North Macedonia, but only in the second attempt since Pickford saved his initial shot. The rebound came back to Bardhi, who was on target in his second attempt.

Prior to the goal, England had only one real chance (Rice hit a post), even though they dominated (over 150 passes in the opening quarter of the game, 82% possession). Alexander-Arnold was denied in injury time, and the guests scored just at the beginning of the second half, but VAR intervened again as they saw that Grealish was offside. Then Kane-factor happened. The England captain came onto the pitch and, after only 40 seconds, was involved in the action from which the final score was achieved. Foden delivered from a corner kick, and Kane’s header came off Atanasov and went in, so it was ruled as an own goal. Southgate tried with Cole Palmer and Marcus Rashford in the end, but the score remained the same.

In a much more exciting game in Leverkusen, Luciano Spalletti's team was a significantly better opponent in the first half but failed to materialize that through the result, which almost paid off in the sequel. Ukraine increased the gas, had one great opportunity and several good situations, and Sergei Rebrov's team will especially regret the situation from the stoppage time of the match when the formal hosts considered that Jesus Hill Manzano had to award a penalty after a duel between Mykhailo Mudryk and Bryan Cristante. This is not the end for the Ukrainians, who will have a reparation in the barrage for the EURO. Potential rivals are Israel, Bosnia and Finland.

EURO 2024 QUALIFIERS

Saturday

Armenia - Wales 1-1 (1-1)

/Zelarayan 5 - Tiknizyian 45+2 og/

Belarus - Andorra 1-0 (0-0)

/Laptev 83/

Latvia - Croatia 0-2 (0-2)

/Majer 7, Kramaric 16/

Switzerland - Kosovo* 1-0 (0-0)

/Vargas 47/

Netherlands - R. Ireland 1-0 (1-0)

/Weghorst 11/

Israel - Romania 1-1 (1-1)

/Zahavi 2 - Puskas 10/

France - Gibraltar 14-0 (7-0)

/James Santos 3 og, Thuram 4, Zaire-Emery 16, Mbappe 30 pen, 74, 82, Clauss 34, Coman 36, 65, Fofana 37, Rabiot 63, Dembele 72, Giroud 89, 90+1/

Sunday

Sweden - Estonia 2-0 (1-0)

/Claesson 22, Forsberg 55/

Liechtenstein - Luxembourg 0-1 (0-0)

/Rodrigez 69/

B&H - Slovakia 1-2 (0-0)

/Hrosovski 49(og) - Bozenik 52, Šatka 72/

Scotland - Norway 3-3 (2-2)

/McGinn 13, Ostigarg 33 (og), Armstrong 59 - Donnum 3, Larsen 20, Elyonoussi 86/

Portugal - Iceland 2-0 (1-0)

/Fernandes 37, Horta 66/

Spain - Georgia 3-1 (1-1)

/Le Normand 4, Torres 55, Locoshvili (og) 72 - Kvaratskhelia 10/

Monday

Macedonia - England 1-1 (1-0)

/Bardhi 41 - Atanasov 59(og)

Ukraine - Italy 0-0

Slovenia - Kazakhstan (7.75)

/Šeško 41, Verbič 82 - Orazov 48/

N.Ireland - Denmark 2-0 (0-0)

/Price 60, Charles 81/

San Marino - Finland 1-2 (0-0)

/Berardi 90+7 - Soiri 50, 58/

Czech R. - Moldova 3-0 (1-0)

/Doudera 14, Chory 72, Soucek 89/

Albania - Faroe I. 0-0