adminEngland suffered a frustrating conclusion to their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign as they were held to a scrappy 1-1 draw by North Macedonia in Group C on Monday.
With qualification long since secured and just a draw needed to seal a top seeding for next year’s finals, England trailed to Enis Bardhi’s 41st-minute rebound effort after his penalty was saved.
Gareth Southgate’s group winners hogged possession but lacked fluency and invention against dogged hosts and needed an own goal by Jani Atanasov to get them level on the hour.
Jack Grealish had earlier seen a goal ruled out while teenager Rico Lewis had a debut he will want to forget after harshly being penalised for North Macedonia’s penalty.
England ended the calendar year unbeaten, if in a rather under-whelming way, topping their group with 20 points from eight games with North Macedonia fourth.
Captain Harry Kane said they have much to be proud of after topping their group and finishing six points ahead of Italy.
“Difficult game, we knew it would be and it was tough against a decent side playing on a pitch that is difficult to play our style of football on,” Kane, who came on in the second half, told Channel 4.
“If anyone was going to get a second (goal) it was us. We can be really proud of how the qualifying campaign has gone.”
Full back Kyle Walker, who wore the captain’s arm-band for the first time, said England should have won the match.
“It’s been a short week, two games when we’ve already qualified,” he added. “It’s no excuses, we know we should be taking three points from here but it’s something to work on for the future.” − Reuters.
Bongani Ndlovu
Mathew Masinge