UEFA Nations League: England end group play without win

By Doug McIntyre
FOX Sports Soccer Writer

For 71 minutes, England was thoroughly outplayed by Germany in their last match before the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

The Three Lions’ old enemies were all over them from the opening whistle Monday at London’s iconic Wembley Stadium, and for most of this high-profile UEFA Nations League group stage finale, Germany seemed destined to simultaneously compound England’s misery in this competition and end any realistic hope that Gareth Southgate’s team can actually compete for its first World Cup title in a half-century plus two months from now.

Then England turned the contest on its ear by scoring three times in 12 minutes in the second half. And while they ultimately allowed Germany to equalize off a late error by goalkeeper Nick Pope and settled for a 3-3 draw, the fightback surely leaves Three Lions fans with a renewed belief that England can actually, realistically aspire to a world title this autumn.

Here are three quick thoughts on Monday’s contest.

England finally stop the bleeding

Southgate’s side couldn’t afford to lose this match. Yet for the majority of Monday’s contest, that seemed by far the most likely outcome. As they had been in their previous five matches — none of them wins —England’s attack was toothless. They created a couple of half-chances in the early going on Monday, forcing two good stops from German keeper Marc-André ter Stegen, including this one on Raheem Sterling:

But that was about it.

So when the visitors went up by two in the second half, it looked all but over. On Germany’s first goal, under fire central defender Harry Maguire, whose place in the heart of the English defense has been the subject of much discussion on the British tabloids of late, gave away the ball and then a penalty to Jamal Musiala. İlkay Gündoğan duly sent his spot kick past Pope.

On the second, a completely unmarked Kai Havertz took a pass from former Chelsea teammate Timo Werner before sending a perfect curling shot into the top corner:

That strike woke England up at last. Lucky not to be in a deeper hole after VAR declined to review a blatant Sterling shirt-tug in the box earlier on, the hosts finally showed badly needed urgency. Luke Shaw got the crowd back into it by pulling one back in the 71st minute, and Wembley erupted when Mason Mount pulled England level shortly after the restart.

The hosts seemed destined to complete their unlikely comeback when Harry Kane scored from the spot with less than 10 minutes to go.

But they couldn’t close the deal, allowing another from Havertz before full time. It was an acceptable outcome all things considered, if at the same time something short of inspiring.

Germany were still the better team

While England did the bare minimum at home in their World Cup send-off, Germany had to be kicking themselves afterward. Hansi Flick’s side were by far the better team for the overwhelming majority of Monday game. They probably should’ve won it. The visitors enjoyed 60-percent of the possession even with England desperately chasing the game for 23 second-half minutes, and they looked the far sharper of the two sides for all but England’s 12-minute onslaught. 

After starting the Flick era with a year-long unbeaten run, Die Mannschaft tied and lost its last two tune-ups before Qatar. That has to concern the four-time champs, who were drawn into one of the toughest groups at this World Cup alongside Spain, Japan and Costa Rica.

But it’s better to suffer a dip in form now than in November if you’re Germany, right? Nobody doubts the quality of Flick’s player pool, one that, based on all recent evidence, seems better positioned to make a deep run in Qatar than their historic rivals.

How far can the Three Lions go in Qatar?

For the first time since reaching the finals of last summer’s European Championship, England actually looked capable of competing with of the sort of team they view, accurately or not, as an equal. 

Give Southgate and his players credit for that. When things looked their bleakest, England was able to summon the resolve that had been missing through the first five games of their disastrous Nations League campaign and get something out of a match that looked all but lost with less than 20 minutes to go.

The real test for England is to come, of course. After reaching the World Cup semifinals four years ago and losing the Euro final at home to Italy on penalties last summer, the country’s fans want to believe that 2022 is the year they’ll finally break their half-century streak without a trophy.

England wasn’t as bad in this one as they had been. There are things to build on there for sure. But there’s also no real reason to think that this is a team on the cusp of glory a few months from now. For Kane, Maguire, Sterling and this rest of what some have called a golden generation of Lions, there has to be a creeping suspicion that their window to win a World Cup might’ve already closed.

One of the leading soccer journalists in North America, Doug McIntyre has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at multiple FIFA World Cups. Before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he was a staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.