Morten Hjulmand (number 21) of Denmark and Harry Kane (9) of England tussle for the ball during a Group C match at the Euro 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany, June 20, 2024. | Photo credit: AP
England’s wait for a place in the knockout stages of the European Championships continues after a 1-1 draw with Denmark on Thursday. Harry Kane livened things up with an early goal, but the Three Lions only managed a point in the end.
It was the second lackluster performance in a row for Gareth Southgate’s side, who missed the chance to become the first English team to win their opening two games at a European tournament.
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The draw leaves the 2020 runners-up, previously considered tournament favourites, top of Group C with four points, while Denmark are second with two points following Slovenia’s 1-1 draw with Serbia.
The game started sloppily with both teams making bad passes, which quickly silenced the crowd of red and white fans, which included the Prince of Wales and Denmark’s King Frederik.
But Kane – who has now scored more goals in major tournaments than any other English player with 13 goals – put England on the scoreboard in the 18th minute when Kyle Walker ducked behind the unsuspecting Victor Kristiansen and fired a cross that eventually fell at Kane’s feet.
The captain reached forward and fired a left-footed shot into the bottom left corner from close range, drawing level with Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney as the two most goals scored by England at major tournaments, with each scoring four goals.
After that, however, Denmark was the better team and the equalizer seemed inevitable.
The Danes took advantage of England’s sloppy play in the 34th minute when Kane’s pass from a throw-in found Kristiansen, who in turn passed to Hjulmand. The 24-year-old fired a rocket from around 30 yards out that bounced off the left post and into the net.
England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford hardly saw this coming and pointed the finger at his teammates in frustration.
Denmark was the stronger team after that, as midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg apparently admitted afterwards.
“I would have swapped it for three points,” he said of his man of the match award. “We played well, we played smart, it’s annoying that we couldn’t score a single goal. We can take a lot from this, we have to keep looking forward and doing it, we have time.”
To give the team fresh legs and energy, Southgate took off Kane, Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka with about 20 minutes to go and replaced them with Ollie Watkins, Jarrod Bowen and Eberechi Eze.
Both teams missed chances, however, with Foden having the closest of two misses, hitting the post with a shot in the second half, a far livelier performance on Thursday than against Serbia.
Jude Bellingham, who scored England’s only goal in their opening 1-0 win over Serbia with a superb first-half performance, played little role on Thursday.
The pitch at the Frankfurt Arena, which had been the subject of complaints after an earlier match, was no help to either team and was eventually torn to shreds. England’s Walker had to change his boots early on after slipping on it and spraining his ankle.
England face Slovenia in their final group match on Tuesday, while Denmark face Serbia on the same day. All four teams technically still have a chance of progressing in the tournament depending on the result.