England vs Denmark LIVE: Final score as Southgate gives blunt verdict after Three Lions booed at Euro 2024
Harry Kane gave England the lead before Southgate’s side dropped off with Denmark hitting back to secure a point in Frankfurt
England were far from convincing in a 1-1 draw with Denmark on Thursday, even if it likely ensured advancing to the round of 16 at the European Championship.
Harry Kane gave England another fast start at Euro 2024, scoring it the 18th minute, but the captain was substituted off in the second half as the team faded. England coach Gareth Southgate removed his forward line in a triple substitution with 25 minutes to play.
Denmark leveled in the 34th when Morten Hjulmand fired in a powerful low shot from long distance, after Kane gave away the ball in defense. The Danes made England look ragged in the second half, attacking the end from where English fans’ anxiety and jeers increased late in the game. England has four points from two games, after edging past Serbia 1-0 in its first match.
That points tally always has been enough to advance in the 24-team Euros format. Still, England can finish in any position from first to third in the Group C standings after playing unbeaten Slovenia next Tuesday.
Slovenia drew 1-1 with Serbia earlier Thursday, four days after getting the same result against Denmark. Serbia and Denmark also play Tuesday evening. Relive all the action and reaction from England v Denmark below:
Joachim Andersen on being aggressive:
“I think we played a really good game today. We have worked hard on being aggressive. [England] like to have the ball, so we shouldn’t be giving them much time on the ball.
“We had a lot of confidence, and hopefully we can take that into the next game. We need to win the next game to go through. I have the feeling that we are in a good place, and we are really satisfied with this performance.”
Conor Gallagher’s post match thoughts:
“Tough game, we know we can do much better, but credit to Denmark. They played well and they’re a good side. We’ve got look at ourselves and we know we can improve to get the three points in the next game.
“The instruction was just to give a bit of energy and pressure on the ball, as well as to keep the ball better than we were doing, and try to control the game. It was a tough time to come on, but when you look at it, I think 1-1 is not the worst result.
“We know that if we’re going to win the tournament, we need to play better. We have to improve how we’re playing, on and off the ball. The good thing is we know we can.”
Kane gets off the mark
On the positive side of things the England captain scored again in a major tournament. Here’s a look at Harry Kane’s goal:
Alan Shearer isn’t impressed with England
Here he is explaining why he grew frustrated watching the draw with Denmark:
Rio Ferdinand on switching things up
“At the moment England do not know when to squeeze the pitch, who is going when, the distances between each other. Once you have questions tactically the picture can change in a split second in front of you and you are lost.
“I would put Declan Rice in the six, Jude Bellingham in the eight running from deep and Phil Foden in the free role as the ten. I think that is how you will get the best of these players.”
Watkins assesses his performance
Ollie Watkins spoke to Euro2024.com about his own performance having come on as a second half substitute to replace Harry Kane.
He said: “It feels weird saying [that I’ve made my Euros debut]. It was a great atmosphere, I loved every minute of it to be fair. It’s just a shame we were a little bit short.
“I like to run in behind, that’s my game. I like to cause defenders problems. I feel like I did that, but it was difficult. Denmark, fair play to them, they made it very difficult for us with their back five.”
Gary Neville highlights the problem with Declan Rice for England after ‘nervous’ display
Gary Neville insists Declan Rice needs to play further up the field after looking “nervous” in England’s draw against Denmark at Euro 2024.
Gareth Southgate’s side remain unbeaten and top of Group C on four points and on the brink of progress to the last 16.
But Neville is adamant Rice is not at the same level as some of the best holding midfielders in Europe when picking the ball up from the back line and claims Southgate could learn from how Mikel Arteta handled him for Arsenal towards the end of the season.
Neville highlights the problem with Rice after ‘nervous’ England display
The Arsenal midfielder struggled in the stalemate with Denmark with Gareth Southgate’s side unable to strike the right balance in Frankfurt
‘We play with both fire and passion'
Denmark coach, Kasper Hjulmand said: “I am not disappointed with the result, but it was clear that there was more to this match. We play as Denmark should play. This is how we are. We play with both fire and passion.
“We played a good match where we thought we could win. Against England, there was plenty of expression, fire and passion from the players.
“We are exactly where we need to be in this match, where we delivered for 90 minutes.”
‘This is the spirit of the team'
Denmark midfielder Pierre-Emile Højbjerg said: “The fans are great, with our fans it felt like playing at home. England have a lot of good players, they brought in fresh energy in the second half to change the game.
“We managed to limit the England stars as a team, we prepared well and were organised, and everyone who came on had the right energy. This is the spirit of the team.”
‘We played good today’
Denmark midfielder, Mikkel Damsgaard, reacting to England draw: “I think we were really tight in the duels. Overall, we played very good today. We showed what we were capable of, and we also kept up the energy in the second half.
“When you play a team as good as them, it’s very hard. Most of all, we are just happy with the performance, and we showed that we can play against the best teams. We also had the chances to win the game.”
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