England launched their European Championship preparations with a commanding 3-0 victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina at St. James’ Park on Monday. Goals from Cole Palmer, Trent Alexander-Arnold and captain Harry Kane sealed the win in opposition to the non-qualifiers.
After a sluggish first half, England discovered their rhythm. Palmer, who has netted 9 penalties for Chelsea this season, broke the impasse within the sixtieth minute along with his first England aim from the spot after Ezri Konsa was introduced down within the field.
“It’s a great feeling to get my first England goal,” Palmer instructed Channel 4, who interviewed him alongside Kane, a late-game substitute.
“Of course, Kane would have taken it if he had been on the pitch,” a grinning Palmer added.
Liverpool’s Alexander-Arnold, one of many brilliant spots on the evening, doubled their lead within the eighty fifth minute along with his third aim for England when he fired residence from a decent angle off a phenomenal move from Manchester City’s Jack Grealish.
Bayern Munich striker Kane, who has 12 targets in his final 12 worldwide appearances, scored maybe one of many best targets of his profession 4 minutes later when he poked the ball in from shut vary after Jarrod Bowen’s shot hit Konsa in a scramble in entrance of aim.
“I’m feeling good,” stated Kane, who had not performed for Bayern since May 8 attributable to an ongoing again difficulty. “A variety of the top of the season was a precaution. It was an excellent likelihood to get an excellent break on the finish of the season. I really feel high-quality.
“It’s about getting minutes. I’m not someone who takes too long to get sharp.”
Several key gamers, together with midfielder Jude Bellingham, who gained the Champions League with Real Madrid on Saturday, had been lacking, however the match was a lot about supervisor Gareth Southgate deciding on which seven gamers he should lower earlier than Friday’s deadline for his or her 26-man squad.
He appreciated what he noticed for a lot of Monday’s match.
“We had players that needed minutes and we needed a competitive game,” Southgate stated. “The opposition was dogged, so we needed to be affected person and hold probing. We felt our high quality would inform.
“There were some good individual performances, and hopefully we have come through with no issues.”
The second half salvaged what regarded destined to be a disappointing evening for the sold-out crowd at St. James’ Park in England’s first recreation away from Wembley in a 12 months.
With a talent-laden squad and after their runners-up end on the final Euros, the Three Lions carry excessive expectations to Germany.
Southgate now faces a tricky process in deciding on his squad, though a number of gamers, together with Alexander-Arnold, Eberechi Eze, Conor Gallagher and Palmer, stood out on Monday.
The supervisor’s job is made tougher by the very fact Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw and Anthony Gordon are recovering from accidents and weren’t obtainable on Monday, and Southgate selected to relaxation Bukayo Saka and John Stones.
Six of England’s beginning 11 arrived at Monday’s match with fewer than 10 caps.
England hosts Iceland of their last pleasant on Friday at Wembley earlier than departing for Germany.
They face Serbia of their opening Group C match on June 16 in Gelsenkirchen.
Source: www.dailysabah.com