In a pretty boring match, England and Denmark drew 1-1, leaving the situation in Group C open ahead of the last round. Harry Kane opened the scoring in the 18th minute, and Morten Hjulmand equalized in the 34th. Despite the role of underdog, Denmark was an equal rival to the Three Lions, who managed to let down their fans one more time. Moreover, England never started a European Championship with two wins from their first two games, and that tradition continued this time as well.Looking at the starting line-ups, both managers seemed satisfied with their players in the first-round matches. Gareth Southgate opted for the exact same squad as against Serbia, while his colleague on the Denmark bench, Kasper Hjulmand, made only one change – Joakim Maehle replaced Alexander Bah on the right wing.Over the first quarter of an hour, both teams played rather cautiously, taking no unnecessary risks. However, in the 18th minute, England broke the deadlock. Who else but Harry Kane?! Victor Kristiansen lost the ball to Kyle Walker, who almost injured his ankle only a few minutes earlier. City’s defender sent the ball into the box, the Danish defence was confused, Bayern’s forward used it and fired the rebound into the net, scoring his 64th international goal. After the goal, Denmark took control of the match, while England opted for a more wary style of play, similar to what they did in the first round against Serbia. The Danes relied on Christian Eriksen’s creativity the most and tried to find Man United’s Rasmus Højlund in the box. In the 34th minute, Denmark managed to make use of their way better performance and score an equalizer. Kristiansen slid the pass to Morten Hjulmand, who unleashed an outstanding long-range strike, finding the net off the left post.The second half started in the same manner as the first one – slow and careful, while Southgate tried to inject some energy in his line-up, replacing Trent Alexander-Arnold with Conor Gallagher. In the 56th minute, Phil Foden hit the post from outside the box, showing that he woke up at least a bit after a poor performance against Serbia, when numerous former players like Rio Ferdinand and Cesc Fabregas criticized him.Ferdinand and Shearer agree: ‘We suffered!’However, after that chance, the game continued at a slow pace. England’s gaffer was very dissatisfied with his offence and substituted Kane, Saka and Foden all at once in the 69th minute, whereas Bowen, Watkins and Eze got the opportunity from the bench. It took only a couple of minutes for the Aston Villa forward to find himself in a one-on-one situation, but Kasper Schmeichel deflected the ball into the corner. The Danish boss tried to keep his team fresh with several substitutions, trying to secure at least a draw. The Danes, however, could emerge victorious after Tottenham’s Pierre-Emile Højbjerg attempted from mid-range, but the ball went wide of the post.In the end, the impression is that Denmark was a better team and deserved victory more than today’s opponent. English fans went home disappointed with how their team played, especially given that the Englishmen used every opportunity in the last ten minutes to drag out and wait for the final whistle. Following this game, the Three Lions have almost secured the tournament’s next round with four points, but the public back home will hardly be satisfied with this kind of performance. As for Denmark, the last round and the encounter with Slovenia will decide its faith.EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP – GROUP STAGEWednesdayCroatia – Albania 2-2 (0-1)/Kramaric 74, Gjasula 76 og – Laci 11, Gjasula 90+4/Germany – Hungary 2-0 (1-0)/Musiala 22, Gundogan 67/Scotland – Switzerland 1-1 (1-1)/McTominay 13 – Shaqiri 26/ThursdaySlovenia – Serbia 1-1 (0-0)/Karnicnik 69 – Jovic 90+5/Denmark – England 1-1 (1-1)/Hjulmand 34 – Kane 18/22.00: (2.30) Spain (3.30) Italy (3.20)Friday16.00: (3.50) Slovakia (3.30) Ukraine (2.15)19.00: (3.30) Poland (3.40) Austria (2.20) 22.00: (3.15) Netherlands (3.35) France (2.30)***odds are subject to change***
