Germany 1, England 1 (UEFA Nations League Group A3)
Harry Kane rescued a point for England in Germany with a late penalty as Gareth Southgate’s men toiled in Munich.
Embed from Getty ImagesKane had already missed a great chance to level the game after an error by Manuel Neuer but the England captain did not miss from the penalty spot, sending Neuer the wrong way after being brought down by Borussia Dortmund’s Nico Schlotterbeck with a couple of minutes to go.
It was Kane’s 50th goal for England, in just 71 caps, and he moved clear of Sir Bobby Charlton to claim second spot in the England all-time scorer’s chart – just three behind Wayne Rooney.
“It was just one of those nights.” admitted Kane afterwards – he added that he was proud of his achievement – while Southgate praised England’s resilience in the face of adversity as they made it three games in Germany without defeat.
Until Kane’s equaliser it had been another hard night for England with Manchester City’s Ilkay Gundogan running the show from midfield alongside the impressive Joshua Kimmich.
England went with a very strong line-up compared to the one that lost in Hungary, with John Stones, Kieran Tripper, Kalvin Phillips, Bukayo Saka, and Raheem Sterling in for Conor Coady, Trent Alexander-Arnold, James Justin, Jude Bellingham, and Jarrod Bowen.
Germany scored a deserved goal through Jonas Hofmann who also had a first half strike ruled out for offside while City full back Kyle Walker had his work cut out against the pacy German attack but was one of few bright lights for the visitors on a night that they once again lacked ideas going forward and looked vulnerable at the back defensively.
Only when changes were made did England look brighter – Jack Grealish deserved an assist for an unlikely injury time winner for Kane after coming on while Jarrod Bowen was also dangerous from a wide role.
England had earlier been disrupted when they lost Manchester City target Phillips after 14 minutes – he was replaced by Bellingham who had a torrid time up against the German midfield.
But they didn’t look at the races until Kane scored – the draw leaves them bottom of Nations League group A3 with 1 point but not out of contention as they look forward to home Nations League games against Italy and Hungary.