England v Bosnia LIVE: Result and reaction from Euro 2024 warm-up as Kane and Alexander-Arnold add late goals
England 3-0 Bosnia: A scrappy England performance was salvaged by Kane and Alexander-Arnold late on after Cole Palmer’s penalty
Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for free
Sign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter
Trent Alexander-Arnold capped an impressive individual display with a tremendous volley as England beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-0 in their latest Euro 2024 warm-up friendly.
Preparations for this summer’s shot at silverware stepped up at St James’ Park as players got a chance to stake their claim for a place on the plane, or even a starting role against Serbia.
Cole Palmer’s spot-kick was followed by an excellent Alexander-Arnold effort and late Harry Kane goal on a night that provided manager Gareth Southgate with plenty of food for thought ahead of Friday’s final squad submission.
Eberechi Eze and Palmer produced positive displays on their first England starts, with the latter opening his international account after Ezri Konsa, another impressive performer, was fouled in the box. Alexander-Arnold did well on his latest audition in midfield but had reverted to a more familiar right-back role when he scored a superb late volley that substitute Kane added to.
Relive all the action from England versus Bosnia below:
Cole Palmer takes his biggest step yet but England’s other fringe players fail to fire
Gareth Southgate picked a team of Euro 2024 hopefuls but few impressed enough to book a seat on the plane in a scrappy performance.
Go back less than a year and Cole Palmer seemed destined for a loan. Instead, he is now heading for Euro 2024, perhaps the breakout star of the club season with a first international goal to his name as well. Chelsea’s player of the season, a man Manchester City may rue selling, has 28 goals, in the shirts of two clubs and now his country.
He has scored in the Premier League, the FA Cup, the Carabao Cup, the Community Shield, the European Super Cup and now for England. If the caveat that his maiden strike in his country’s colours was from the penalty spot, plenty of his goals are, but whatever the stage, they seem taken with nonchalant confidence.
A friendly win over Bosnia and Herzegovina may cement Palmer’s place in Gareth Southgate’s final 26-man squad; not merely for his penalty-taking prowess – though that could prove handy in Germany – but a performance where he had come to look England’s likeliest source of a goal even before he scored one. Trent Alexander-Arnold and Harry Kaneadded more as Bosnia and Herzegovina were beaten; the Liverpool vice-captain with a classy volley, the England captain with a predatory finish. An illustration of Alexander-Arnold’s quality may be timely, a reminder of Kane’s ability to pilfer goals needless.
But Palmer took a bigger step forward than either.
Cole Palmer takes biggest step yet but England’s other fringe players fail to fire
England 3-0 Bosnia: Gareth Southgate picked a team of Euro 2024 hopefuls but few impressed enough to book a seat on the plane in a scrappy performance
FT: England 3-0 Bosnia-Herzegovina
So, a couple of selection headaches for Gareth Southgate after some impressive performances from Ebere Eze, Cole Palmer and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Jack Grealish, Adam Wharton and Jarrad Branthwaite had encouraging cameos, while Jarrod Bowen, Ezri Konsa and Ollie Watkins did their chances no harm either.
For the sake of debate, based on that game, if I were to drop seven players from the 33-man squad, they would be:
James Trafford
Jarell Quansah
Lewis Dunk
Curtis Jones
James Maddison
Ivan Toney
With one of Kobbie Mainoo and Adam Wharton to miss out, depending on your preference.
Thanks for following!
A memorable night for both Jarrad Branthwaite and Adam Wharton, who become the latest England debutants.
Curtis Jones, Jarell Quansah and James Trafford will be hoping to join them on Friday.
FT: England 3-0 Bosnia-Herzegovina
A couple of goal highlights for you. First up is Alexander-Arnold’s sublime finish...
...and Harry Kane’s 63rd England goal!
FT: England 3-0 Bosnia-Herzegovina
Grealish is another man who did his chances no harm today. Despite mixed form for City, he offers a little more control and finesse than Bowen, Eze and Gordon.
Key England dates
A reminder of the key dates for England ahead of a busy summer. They will play one more warm-up game before the official squad announcement and the beginning of Euro 2024.
7 June - final warm-up match against Iceland at Wembley, 7.45pm BST.
8 June - announcement of final 26-man squad.
16 June - opening game of Euro 2024, against Serbia at 8pm BST.
20 June - second group game of Euro 2024, against Denmark at 5pm BST.
25 June - final game of Euro 2024 group stage, against Slovenia at 8pm BST.
The round of 16, if England were to qualify, would begin from 29 June, with England playing on 30 June in Gelsenkirchen at 5pm BST if they manage to top the group.
England managed to secure a win in one of their two warm-up matchesbefore departing for Germany and Euro 2024 as they downed Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-0.
However, it was far from a complete performance and Gareth Southgatetook the opportunity to try out some of the members of his squad he might not have seen a lot of.
Cole Palmer broke the deadlock from the penalty spot before Trent Alexander-Arnold doubled the home side’s advantage with a well-timed volley. Late in the match, Harry Kane, who started on the bench, was in the right place to tap home England’s third of the night.
Selected ratings:
Marc Guehi, 5
Looked a bit nervous and was shown a yellow card in a friendly for a sub-par challenge, and otherwise did not have a busy game.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, 8
Wearing an uncharacteristic number eight on the back of his shirt, he played some clever passes through the middle and won England a couple of corners. He provided a great cross-field pass to dangerously free Grealish down the left late on. Then hit a well-timed volley for England’s second goal.
Eberechi Eze, 7
Eze was one of the main bright sparks in the match. He made a strong powerful run between the lines and caused problems for defenders with his movement, pace and dribbling before he was substituted on the hour mark for Jack Grealish.
Below are the ratings for each player.
England player ratings from their Euro 2024 warm-up win over Bosnia
England 3-0 Bosnia: Gareth Southgate got a good look at his players ahead of Euro 2024 but few stood out
FT: England 3-0 Bosnia-Herzegovina
Nothing concrete will be known until 8 June, but a betting man would wager that Cole Palmer and Trent Alexander-Arnold have played their way on the plane tonight.
Eze was bright, and some would say man of the match, and if he plays like that on Friday it will be hard to deny him a place on the plane.
Adam Wharton was extremely composed throughout his debut and would make an interesting midfield alternative, whether or not Kobbie Mainoo is on the plane.
Konsa, Gallagher, Bowen and Watkins were all solid if unspectacular, with Marc Guehi struggling on one or two occasions (though he possesses the talent to be in the squad).
On tonight’s evidence, Lewis Dunk and Jarell Quansah will be the centre-backs who drop out of the squad, with Branthwaite showing an accomplished performance.
Not a good night for Curtis Jones or James Trafford, who weren’t given the chance to prove themselves.
FT: England 3-0 Bosnia-Herzegovina
Gareth Southgate is next to speak to the media. He agrees that he got “what he needed” from the performance.
“[There was] good tempo to the game, we just had to be patient. In the end the scoreline reflected the performance.
He adds that he thought both Palmer and Eze were “very good”, and “both played with freedom”.
He praises Eze’s movement and ability to take players on, while lamenting that Palmer could’ve had more opportunities but was “trying to be too precise”.
On Harry Kane, he says that the captain has “trained all week no problem, so he looks in good shape”.
He finishes by saying that the performance has given him some extra headaches, “but that’s a good thing”.
“[There were] lots of individual things I was really pleased with.”
FT: England 3-0 Bosnia-Herzegovina
Harry Kane and Cole Palmer are first in front of the Channel 4 cameras.
Kane calls it “a really good game for us”, adding that “it’s been a really good camp”.
“[It’s] good preparation, and overall a good night for us.”
Cole Palmer says it’s “a dream feeling” to score his first goal for England. When asked whether he thinks he’s done enough to be on the plane to Germany, he shrugs and says: “Not sure, hope so. It’s been a long season, I’m just trying to find my feet, but hopefully I’ll be going to Germany”.
Kane praises Palmer’s “unbelievable season”, before adding that he’s “feeling good” and “should be ready to go for the group stage”.
“A lot of the end of season [and him missing games] was precaution. In the end it was a good chance to get a good break after a tough season.”
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments