"DIRTY HARRY" Daily Express

England Team

Denmark Team

    Match Report by Mike Payne

In this, the third match of this International break, England took on Denmark in a match that they really needed to win before taking on Belgium away, next month.  The only problem was, Denmark, one of the best organised teams in Europe, were on a very good run of results themselves, so it wasn’t going to be easy.  Not only that, England, or more to the point, one of their players, was to shoot his own team in the foot after just half an hour of the match.  To compound the problem another player later entered the record books for all the wrong reason.

England did start well though and as early as the third minute Harry Kane had a chance due to a poor Danish pass, but his deflected shot was safely gathered by Kasper Schmeichel.  Two minutes later, the first incident that affected the match arrived, when Harry Maguire was booked for a late tackle.  Being booked so early meant the Manchester United player would have to tread carefully for the rest of the game.  Easier said than done.

Denmark were also looking positive and after Conor Coady’s excellent interception conceded a corner, a ball in to the near post was met by Kasper Dolberg, but his shot went past the outside of the post.  The Danes broke quickly at times and England’s defenders, still trying to get used to the 3-4-3 system, gave away a series of silly free-kicks.  Maguire and Declan Rice the guilty players.  England then tried to make ground, and on 13 minutes Mason Mount’s good turn ended with a shot that Schmeichel again saved comfortably.

Reece James was sending in some testing crosses from the right but no England players could get on the end of them and both Marcus Rashford and Kane looked a little sluggish compared to their normal game.  There was a worrying moment as Christian Eriksen, back on familiar turf, broke down the middle as England’s defence opened up.  Luckily for the home side though, Eriksen skied his shot high over the bar.  Meanwhile, James and Mount were working well down England’s right, and another Mount cross was again wasted as Kane and Ainsley Maitland-Niles failed to react quickly enough.  As the play went from end to end, another chance came Kane’s way in the 28th minute, but he couldn’t adjust his feet for a decent contact with his shot and Denmark cleared with ease.

On 31 minutes, the inevitable happened.  The Spanish referee had already shown that he was always going to punish any England tackle, and when Maguire’s first touch let him down,  the defender lunged into his opponent to try and recover the ball, catching Dolberg, despite winning the ball first.  Out came the red card, and there was nothing England could do about it.  Maguire’s already poor night had just got horribly worse.

You have to feel sorry for Maitland-Niles too, as the Arsenal player, making his first start for his country, was the sacrificial lamb as Gareth Southgate brought on Tyrone Mings as an extra central defender, and moved to a 4-2-3 formation.  If all that wasn’t bad enough, what happened a few minutes later made the mountain England had to climb just that little bit higher.  A Danish cross into the middle bounced awkwardly on the edge of the box with Kyle Walker trying to clear from Dolberg.  Jordan Pickford came out to also get involved and suddenly Dolberg went down screaming at the top of his voice.  I must confess I never heard any gunshot, but it seemed that he must have been hit.  Replays showed that there was minimal contact but the referee, whose whistle was dominating the Wembley air at this stage, awarded a penalty to Denmark.  Up stepped Eriksen, on the occasion of his 100th cap, to shoot straight down the middle with Pickford diving out of the way.

For the rest of the half Denmark kept possession well and used the extra man effectively as England tried hard to come to terms with the mess they found themselves in.  There was little from England’s attack to report and to be honest, neither goalkeeper had much to do.  One sensed that Denmark had what they came for and would now try and preserve that lead.

To be fair to England, they came out after the break, determined to find a way back into the match.  After Eriksen missed a great chance to increase the lead, Rashford shot wide and James cut inside to force Schmeichel into another comfortable save.  Kane and Rashford both fired in shots but Schmeichel was not truly tested until the 66th minute, when the goalkeeper made the save of the match.  From a corner and a flick on, the ball reached the head of Mount.  He did everything right and the ball was heading for the top corner.  Schmeichel was not to be beaten though and somehow he clawed the ball away with his left hand, much to the home players disbelief.

Two minutes later and Daniel Wass missed a sitter when he was left all alone for a header but sent it over the bar.  On came Jadon Sancho and Dominic Calvert-Lewin, but the former hardly had a touch and did nothing, whilst the latter was again feeding on scraps.  On 77 minutes James forced Schmeichel into another good save from a free-kick after Kane had been felled on the edge of the box..  Three minutes later Kane’s header saw Calvert-Lewin and Coady almost touch home an equaliser.  But it just wasn’t to be.  The hard working Kalvin Phillips, who had run his socks off, was booked by the referee after a good challenge provoked another screaming Dane.  Don’t you just hate it when players scream!  It was another poor decision by the Spanish ref, and when substitute Jordan Henderson complained at the decision, he too was booked.  The English frustrations were really kicking in towards the end of the match, and that was just on my settee!  Meanwhile the cool, calm, Danes saw the result out perfectly to extend their impressive run of results, something that must not be forgotten after the disappointment of England’s result.

The final twist came after the final whistle as the players were leaving the field.   James, who had had an otherwise impressive match, blotted his copybook by arguing a little too much with the referee, who, needless to say, had the last word by showing the England player a red card, the first time ever that two England players had been sent off in the same match.

Not an England International night to remember for anyone really and one last thing, has Jack Grealish trod on Gareth Southgate’s cat?
   

Source Notes