Manchester Football

A website about football in Manchester

You are here: Home / Archives for International

International

England draw Netherlands in UEFA Nations League finals

by

England will play the Netherlands in the UEFA Nations League semi finals in Guimares, Portugal on June 6, 2019.

The winners the other semi final, Portugal vs Switzerland, to be played on June 5, will meet the victors in the final on June 9.

All four teams are already assured of at least a play-off place for Euro 2020 should they fail to qualify for the finals through the normal qualification process.

The final ranking table in the UEFA Nations League was used to help determine seedings for the Euro 2020 qualifying groups.

If the four finalists don’t require their UEFA Nations League playoff spot then it will be rolled down the final ranking list of Nations League teams until all four places have been allocated to teams that didn’t qualify for the Euro 2020 finals.

The overall winner of the Nations League will receive £6.7m in prize money with other nations getting less money.

England avoid Germany in Euro 2020 draw

England were drawn with Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Kosovo in Group A of the Euro 2020 qualifiers, with fixtures to run between March and November of 2019.

They avoided Germany, who were paired with the Netherlands again, along with Northern Ireland in Group C.

Republic of Ireland were placed in group D with Switzerland, Denmark, Georgia and Gibraltar.

Scotland will face Belgium, Russia, Cyprus, Kazakhstan and San Marino while Wales will meet Croatia, Slovakia, Hungary and Azerbaijan.

The winner and runner-up up in each group will qualify automatically but England and Scotland have the benefit of a guaranteed play off place if they don’t qualify because they won their respective UEFA Nations League groups.

Manchester City will host Women’s European Championship games in 2021.

Manchester City’s Football Academy Stadium will be one of the venues when England host the 2021 Women’s European Championships.

England had previously staged the tournament in 2005 

The Football Association was reportedly the only bidder but met strict guidelines before UEFA awarded the tournament to them.

England beat Croatia to avenge World Cup semi-final loss and claim last-four place in UEFA Nations League

by

ENGLAND 2, CROATIA 1

IN the space of seven dramatic minutes, England went from being relegated from group four of the UEFA Nations League to winning it and qualifying for the semi-finals.

It looked as though England would endure further misery against Croatia who this summer beat them in the semi finals of the World Cup.

England, who had dominated the game, fell behind after 57 minutes through a superb solo goal from Andrej Kramaric, the former Leicester City striker.

At that point England were being relegated with Croatia set to overhaul Spain and win the group.

When substitute Jesse Lingard equalised in the 78th minute, England were still on course to be relegated due to an inferior away goals record to their Wembley opponents.

In a dramatic game of numerous twists and turns, Harry Kane’s 85th minute winner propelled England to top spot and relegated Croatia to the second tier of European football.

And despite criticisms of the UEFA Nations League, it has certainly added a competitive element to what had ordinarily been meaningless friendlies.

That was reinforced by the atmosphere as Wembley was bouncing at the final whistle. And with Three Lions blasting from the sound system and fans flag waving it was reminiscent of those dizzy days when hosts England reached the semi-finals of Euro 1996.

Embed from Getty Images

England manager Gareth Southgate was asked to reflect on a year that had seen his team reach the semi finals of the World Cup and reach the semi-finals of the Nations League after winning in Spain and beating Croatia.

He said: “I am proud of all the players and all the staff. We have grown together and improved with every step.

“Today was another big occasion and big experience. There were a lot of expectations, but we coped well.

“We played well in the first half and should have been ahead. We had to show resilience to stay in the game after they scored on the counter.

“It may be new England, but we scored with from a long throw and free kick so nothing changes.”

Southgate described this as a “significant” step in the team’s development adding the emergence of players in recent months has provided options on the bench.

And looking ahead, Southgate continued: “We are not perfect, but we are improving and there is a hunger to do it.

“We had quality, resilience, strength together as a group. The next stage is is to win in these big games, something we have done in the last two months.

“We have shown more consistency, but have to keep improving. We have beaten three of the top 10 teams in the world in the last few months.

“The World Cup is far bigger, but we have to look at the next challenge (Nations League) and how we can make it rewarding.

“It is a great opportunity to test ourselves against top opposition and what has also been exciting is the way we have connected with the supporters.

“There is a feeling around the team which is very powerful and we want to build on it and next year could be exciting.

“We have more targets ahead, (Euro) qualifiers in March and we can’t take them for granted.”

Croatian coach Zlatko Dalic had no complaints about the result saying England deserved their victory.

England made eight changes to the side that started Thursday’s friendly against Croatia.

Jordan Pickford, Ben Chilwell and Fabian Delph were the sole survivors as it was all-change.

Kane returned as captain while there were recalls for Kyle Walker, Eric Dier, Joe Gomez, John Stones, Ross Barkley, Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford.

And there was a heavy Mancunian influence with three City players in the starting line up with two from United with two further Reds, Jesse Lingard and Luke Shaw on the bench.

Croatia were captained by world player of the year Luca Modric, the former Tottenham midfielder, with their side also including the talented Ivan Perisic and the nucleus of the side that beat England in the semis to reach this summer’s World Cup final.

England had an early let-off when Pickford slipped making a clearance. The ball fell to Ante Rebic who blazed over an unguarded goal.

But Southgate’s side had two chances in quick succession in the 11th minute to take the lead.

Sterling was put clean through by Kane’s slide-rule pass, but keeper Lovre Kalinic made a super block.

And from the resulting corner, Stones headed toward goal and Kane spooned a shot over the bar from inside the six-yard box.

England had another great chance to break the deadlock when Sterling was put through by Delph. Keeper Kalinic came out of his box to head clear to Kane whose goalbound shot was blocked and his follow-up effort superbly kept out by the Croatian keeper.

Kalinic was also called into action diving low to his left to turn away a drive from Chilwell as England remained well on top.

England had another chance late in the half when Barkley volleyed into the side netting at the far post from a Chilwell cross as they remained in almost total control.

The second half continued where the first left off and Rashford’s brilliant run and pass released Sterling, but Kalinic saved well again.

The fear was England would be punished for missed chances, and so it proved as Croatia stole ahead in the 57th minute with their first clear-cut chance of the match, a wonderful solo effort from Kramaric.

The striker was surrounded when he received a cross from the right, but he twisted and turned several times to create an opening for himself before firing his past Pickford with the aid of a deflection off Dier.

Southgate made his first change mid-half when Barkley made way for Dele Alli.

And that was soon followed by two more as Delph and Rashford were replaced by Lingard and Jadon Sancho.

Lingard had only been on the pitch five minutes when he equalised for England.

Croatia failed to clear Gomez’s long throw, Kane prodded the ball past keeper Kalinic and Lingard tapped in from a couple of yards.

Lingard not long after came to England’s rescue clearing a Domagoj Vida header off the goalline.

It was a stroke of good fortunes as three minutes later England stole ahead.

Chilwell’s excellent free kick was not cleared and Kane, sliding in, managed to divert the ball low past Kalinic for his 20th international goal.

Wayne Rooney’s winning send off as England beat USA

by

ENGLAND 3, USA 0

It was a case of out with the old and in with the new as England comprehensively beat United States in a friendly at Wembley.

Wayne Rooney was handed a farewell 120th cap to signal the end of his illustrious career as England’s record goalscorer.

But at the opposite end of the spectrum there were first international goals from Trent Alexander-Arnold and Callum Wilson, the latter of his debut.

And with Jesse Lingard also on target, it was a team with a refreshingly youthful look against opponents ranked 25th in the world and who had drawn their last two internationals against England.

Yet it was a seamless display as the new kids looked at ease on the international stage that provided manager Gareth Southgate with considerable food for thought.

Embed from Getty Images

Southgate said: “Some of our attacking play in the first 30 minutes and last 20 was exciting.

“There were some encouraging performances from the young players and nice for Trent and Callum to get goals which were good moments.”

Southgate added he was not happy with his side when they were without the ball saying America got through them too easily.

“If we do that on Sunday (against World Cup finalists Croatia in the Nations League) we will lose. If we want to be a top team in the world we have to be ruthless throughout the game and not stop when we are 3-0 up,” he said.

Southgate paid tribute to former Manchester United player  Rooney saying he was brilliant throughout his time with the squad offer advice through conversations with the young players.

Rooney also presented the new players with their shirts and told them what playing for England meant to him.

“Wayne showed humility in training, tracking back in five-a-side games as though his life depended on it and but for a save from Braz Guzan at the end it was close to a fairytale finish,” he continued.

It was Rooney’s night as the former captain’s foundation will benefit from some of the proceeds.

Rooney, accompanied by his sons, entered the field to a guard of honour from both teams which was followed by a presentation to mark the end of his international days.

It was very much an experimental England team with debuts for Brighton centre-back Lewis Dunk and Bournemouth striker Wilson while there was a first start for exciting Borussia Dortmund teenager Jadon Sancho.

And with the likes of Alexander-Arnold, Ben Chilwell, Michael Keane and Harry Winks in the side, it was with an eye on the future.

Jordan Pickford, Dele Alli and Jesse Lingard were the only players you could call seasoned internationals while Fabian Delph captained the team.

England made an electrifying start and could have been three goals to the good inside the opening 10 minutes.

American keeper Brad Guzan made a brilliant save to turn Alli’s header on to the crossbar, Wilson just failed to connect properly with a Lingard cross in front of goal and then Wilson had a strong shout for a penalty rejected after he looked to be upended by Guzan as he burst through on goal.

Despite their early dominance, America almost snatched a mid-half lead with their first chance of the game.

Borussia Dortmund’s talented 20-year-old Christian Pulisic burst through on goal only to be denied by a super stop from Pickford who spread himself well to keep out the low shot.

England made the most of this stroke of fortune to immediately go upfield to make a 25th minute breakthrough as Alli set up Lingard who curled an exquisite shot from the edge of the box into the top corner, his third goal for England.

And it was 2-0 two minutes later when Alexander-Arnold scored his first goal for England as the overlapping right back powered home a drive into the far bottom corner.

Southgate handed another first cap at the restart as Southampton goalkeeper Alex McCarthy replaced Pickford.

Rooney took the captain’s armband from Delph after he made his entrance just before the hour along with Jordan Henderson and Eric Dier as Chilwell, Alli and Lingard were replaced.

The second period, with England in a commanding lead, lacked the intensity of the opening half.

And America almost halved the deficit mid-half when Bobby Wood headed narrowly over when well placed eight yards out.

England made a fifth change with 20 minutes left when Ruben Loftus-Cheek took the place of Winks.

Rooney created an opening for himself, but could only fire straight at keeper Brad Guzan.

Wilson glanced a shot narrowly wide as he looked to endure a frustrating night in front of goal.

But he was finally rewarded 13 minutes from time with a n excellent near-post shot to covert a left-wing cross from Delph.

It was his last action as he was soon replaced by Marcus Rashford, England’s sixth change.

And there was almost a perfect send off for Rooney as in stoppage time he was denied a farewell goal by a smart save from Guzan, the former Aston Villa, Hull City and Middlesbrough shot stopper.

England survive second half onslaught to earn famous victory in Spain after Raheem Sterling goals

by

SPAIN 2, ENGLAND 3 (UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE)

England survived a second half onslaught from a shell-shocked Spain to win 3-2, despite another late surge by the Spanish, and earn an invaluable three points in the UEFA Nations League as Raheem Sterling finally broke his international goal drought.

England raced into a 3-0 lead after a first half goal deluge to match the rain in Spain at Seville making light of their recent difficulties in goal by scoring all three shots on target with Sterling scoring either side of Marcus Rashford before the break.

It was the first time Spain had conceded three goals in a competitive home fixture and they pulled one back through Paco Alcacer soon after half time before England survived a massive penalty shout against Jordan Pickford, survived a multitude of Spain shots on goal, with the home side hitting the crossbar, but Sergio Ramos’ late late goal couldn’t prevent England from earning their first victory in Spain since February 1987 when Gary Lineker scored all four goals in a 4-2 win at the Bernabeu.

Embed from Getty Images

Gareth Southgate had two enforced changes to make after John Stones and Jordan Henderson were ruled out through suspension. Joe Gomez and Harry Winks replaced them while Kieran Trippier came in for Kyle Walker as England largely stuck with the same side that drew 0-0 in Croatia.

Eric Dier was booked early on as Spain threatened to score first but it was England who broke the deadlock and in some style with a fantastic opening goal by Raheem Sterling.

Raheem Sterling breaks his England goal drought in style

Sterling finally broke his England goal drought with his first goal in 28 appearances after 16 minutes. The City winger took just one touch to set himself up after Jordan Pickford’s forward pass to went to Harry Kane in midfield. The England captain swept the ball out to Marcus Rashford whose cross took out the entire Spain defence allowing Sterling the time to lash the ball into the top corner past David De Gea.

The cathartic reaction from the wide-man said it all after a three years and 1825 minutes since his last goal – at home to Estonia in the Euro 2016 qualifiers – on October 9, 2015.

Spain were roused and redoubled their efforts with Pickford dropping a free kick and being bailed out by Kane while Harry Winks was lucky to not be punished for his own mistake.

Pickford started another move with another powerful ball up which was eventually won by a tenacious Kane. One quick turn and an early pass into the box later and Rashford only needed one touch before beating his Manchester United team mate – his own wastefulness from the Croatia game put behind him in the space of minutes rather than years – for his fourth England goal in his last six starts.

England were under pressure but they were the better in the break, stealing possession just 30 yards out, before the ball went into the box again from Ross Barkley. Harry Kane brought it down and Sterling gobbled up his second chance in the space of 13 minutes from close range.

Marco Asensio’s turn and shot was deflected into the side netting off the post by Joe Gomez as Spain came out in the second half seeking to up their game after a disastrous first half.

Spain got away with a foul on Sterling on the edge of their area before Saul’s shot was saved by Pickford but Luis Enrique had had enough made a couple of changes. Paco Alcacer replaced Iago Aspas while Saul Niguez was replaced by Dani Ceballos.

In-form Alcacer had pulled one back within seconds of coming onto the pitch, getting in front of Kane and glancing Asensio’s cross inside the unguarded far post and with just over half an hour to play it was game on and thoughts of England’s home game against Spain in which the visitors levelled matters with two late goals started to come to mind. 

Jordan Pickford escapes red card

Pickford was lucky to get away without conceding a penalty and potentially a red card after losing the ball while trying a Cruyff turn and appearing to commit a foul in his area with a desperate lunge to win it back off Rodrigo.

England had been all action but now the supreme effort was starting to show in Southgate’s team who hadn’t had a shot on target since their first half goals. Marcos Alonso thrashed the ball over the before Alvaro Morata replaced Rodrigo in Spain’s last throw of the dice.

England braced for a late onslaught in response with Kyle Walker introduced for Barkley but Sergio Busquets should have been more heavily punished for pulling back Sterling as the visitors retained a speedy counter attack.

Pickford made a good save from Alcacer as the Spanish siege was well under way in the last ten minutes of the exhilarating contest with Asensio shooting wide as the home side got closer.

Trent Alexander-Arnold was brought on to shore up the right side, replacing Kieran Trippier while Nathaniel Chalobah came on for his first senior England cap – replacing Winks with England hanging on grimly as shots rained in from Spain who had captured almost 73% of the possession, firing in 20 shots on goal to England’s paltry 5.

Asensio’s shot was blocked by Pickford and bounced off Morata just wide as England continued to live dangerously right till the end, even watching Marcos Alonso’s chance hit crossbar before Sergio Ramos’ last gasp goal from another Spain cross was the last action in their first home defeat in 39 competitive games since June 2003.

  • The result left England in a solid second position with 4 points in their UEFA Nations League table. Spain stayed on 6 points while Croatia were firmly at the bottom of the league with just 1 point.
  • The Croats host Spain on Thursday, November 15 before travel to Wembley for the final league game to play England on Sunday, November 18.
  • England could qualify for the play-offs if they beat or match Spain’s points total. Depending on Croatia’s result against Spain, England could avoid relegation to League B by avoiding defeat against Croatia.

MATCH STATS – Spain 2, England 3

Spain: De Gea, Jonny, Nacho, Ramos, Alonso, Alcantara, Busquets, Niguez (Ceballos 57), Aspas (Alcacer 57), Rodrigo (Morata 72), Asensio

Booked: Ramos, Jonny, Ceballos

Goals: Alcacer 58, Ramos 90+7

England: Pickford, Trippier (Alexander-Arnold 85), Gomez, Maguire, Chilwell, Dier, Winks (Chalobah 90+1), Barkley (Walker 76), Sterling, Rashford, Kane

Booked: Dier, Winks, Maguire, Rashford

Goals: Sterling 16, 38; Rashford 29 

England lack spirit in Ghost game draw in empty stadium against Croatia

by

CROATIA 0, ENGLAND 0 – UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE

England handed a debut to Jadon Sancho but were left ruing missed chances as they drew a blank in the so-called “Ghost-game” away to Croatia.

Embed from Getty Images

Eric Dier and Harry Kane both hit the woodwork with great chances, while Kane had a goal ruled out for offside, and Marcus Rashford fluffed two great chances to score as England struggled to put away their chances against a lacklustre Croatia who were in damage control mode.

Former Manchester City youth product Jadon Sancho became England’s second youngest debutant at the age of 18 years and 201 days – second only behind Manchester United’s Duncan Edwards but he showed signs of his electric pace in his 12 minutes on the pitch.

England’s UEFA Nations League qualifier at the HNK Rijeka Stadium was played out in eerie silence without fans present as the home side was being punished for racism after marking a swastika on the pitch before a Euro 2016 home qualifier against Italy.

The subsequent ban has also affected England fans, hundreds who whom had already made travel plans when then ban hit and were looking forward to seeing England avenge their World Cup Semi Final defeat in the summer in Russia.

Ross Barkley and Ben Chilwell were handed starts for England.

Leicester City left back Chilwell was a late addition to the senior squad after an injury to Manchester United’s Luke Shaw but made his senior starting debut after a cameo against Switzerland in the last game.

England boss Gareth Southgate switched to a flat back four against Croatia after the added boost to creative influence in the squad but used Eric Dier and Jordan Henderson to provide more midfield solidity.

Croatia had been much changed in the last 93 days since their World Cup encounter with England.

Several players have retired or were injured but England’s hosts retained plenty of quality in midfield with Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic although the variable quality of the pitch had a great say in the resulting game.

England will lose John Stones and Jordan Henderson for the trip to Spain after both picked up bookings on a night that will surely only be remembered for the empty stands and occasional song from intrepid travelling England fans outside the stadium – they didn’t miss much.

Match Stats – Croatia 0, England 0

England: Pickford, Walker, Stones, Maguire, Chilwell, Henderson, Dier, Barkley, Sterling (Sancho 78), Kane, Rashford

Croatia: Livajovic, Jedvaj, Lovren, Vida, Pivaric, Kovacic (Badelj 73), Rakitic, Kramaric, Modric, Perisic (Pjaca 68), Rebic (Livaja 80)

Attendance: 0