England vs Ukraine LIVE: Final score and goal updates from Euro 2024 qualifier today
Gareth Southgate is targeting back-to-back wins after England beat Italy on Thursday
England host Ukraine in their next qualifying fixture for Euro 2024 as Gareth Southgate’s men try to make it tow wins from two following their historic victory over Italy last week.
A first win in Italy since 1961 gave Southgate’s team the perfect start to Group C, although the manager was happier with his side’s first half performance rather than the second as they held on for a 2-1 victory with 10 men. “We showed two sides without a doubt,” said the Three Lions boss.
Harry Kane broke the all-time goalscoring record in that outing with a first-half penalty. Calmly despatched by the England captain, it was Kane’s first international match since he missed a second penalty in the quarter-final defeat to France at the World Cup.
Ahead of tonight’s qualifier, more than 1,000 Ukrainians have been invited to Wembley as guests of the FA following Russia’s invasion of the country, with England also planning a display of solidarity before kick off.
Follow all the action as England host Ukraine in the Euro 2024 qualifiers:
England vs Ukraine
Some images ahead of England’s qualifier with Ukraine at Wembley tonight...
England vs Ukraine
Ukraine haven’t won their opening match in qualifying for any of the last five major tournaments (drawn four, lost one) since beating Belarus in September 2008 in a 2010 World Cup qualifier.
Kane chasing more records
Harry Kane has scored 21 goals in 30 England appearances at Wembley, scoring five times in his last four appearances there.
In England’s history, only Bobby Charlton (23) and Gary Lineker (22) have scored more times at Wembley for the Three Lions.
Will Kane catch one or both of them this afternoon?
England team news
So, James Maddison starts tonight. At 26, his first England start has perhaps come a little later than he and many onlookers would have imagined, having gained only one international cap so far as a substitute against Montenegro three-and-a-half years ago.
Now, in part thanks to his excellent recent club form at Leicester and partly due to a number of injuries in the left-sided attacker role like Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford and Phil Foden. With all that competition, it’s an opportunity Maddison must take.
England achieve something they’ve never done before – and it shows the blueprint for Euro 2024 glory
After the record, there was something else to register for Harry Kane.
“Of course we haven’t achieved what we want to, but I think tonight was a big statement after the disappointment of the World Cup and for huge spells of the game, to play really well shows what type of team we want to be.”
That is of course a team that can go anywhere – to any stadium, against any opposition – and completely impose their own game. That is what might have been even more significant about this 2-1 win over Italy after Kane’s record. Or, at least, the first half might have been.
It is also about much more than winning in the country for the first time since 1961, or beating them at all for the first time since 1997. It was about the nature of that initial display.
England don’t actually get big away wins that often, but those that they tend to be memorable. In this millennium, there was the 5-1 against Germany in the 2002 World Cup qualifiers, the 4-1 against Croatia in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers and then the 3-2 over Spain in the first Nations League.
England achieve something they’ve never done – and it shows route to Euro 2024 glory
With Jude Bellingham at the heart of the midfield, England demonstrated their capacity to control a game in the 2-1 win over Italy
England line-up
England XI: Pickford, Walker, Stones, Maguire, Chilwell, Rice, Henderson, Bellingham, Saka, Kane, Maddison
England vs Ukraine
England are winless in their last three home games (D2 L1), two at Molineux and one at Wembley.
The Three Lions haven’t gone four without a win at home since between October 2010 and June 2011 (D3 L1).
England vs Ukraine
Ukraine have never beaten England away from home in four previous attempts (one draw, three defeats), with this their first away game on English soil since September 2012.
That one ended in a 1-1 draw in a World Cup qualifier.
Southgate on Ukraine test
Here’s Gareth Southgate previewing today’s encounter with Ukraine. Can the Three Lions make it two wins from two?
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