Ukraine ended England’s 100% record in qualifying for Euro 2024 after Oleksandr Zinchenko’s goal was cancelled out by Kyle Walker.
Embed from Getty ImagesBukayo Saka hit the crossbar as England tried to win the game but Gareth Southgate’s side failed to create enough clear chances.
And although the game was played in Wroclaw in Poland the Stadium was filled with fans of Ukraine who cheered their team at the end of a creditable draw with Gareth Southgate’s men.
In a game played in Central European heat, England stayed top with 13 points on 5 games with Ukraine second with 7 points and 4 games played.
Goalscorer Kyle Walker – who celebrated his first goal for his national team after a record 77th cap without scoring, admitted England were not at their best on the night, but and said:
“We lacked a bit of the cutting edge we usually have but we will take the point and move on.
“It’s a relief to represent my country 77 times and finally get a goal.”
And there was praise for the clever move by captain Harry Kane to drop deep and turn provider.
He said: “I’ve played with Harry for a number of years and he can find a bit of space deeper and he found me.
“He showed how intelligent he is as a footballer, we need him and hopefully he will be with us next summer.”
And Walker added: “We should have created more clear cut opportunities in front of goal against Ukraine but we will move on to Scotland on Tuesday,”
England did not click going forward – Gareth Southgate
England manager Gareth Southgate was happy that England took a point from the game after his side failed to engage going forward.
He said: “This is a very tough place to come – the occasion was unique – we controlled a lot of the ball but we didn’t create enough chances in the final third.
“We then had to make sure we didn’t lose the game – it’s important for qualification.
“Clearly when we had that much of the ball we had to create more chances but our attacking play didn’t click tonight.
But he had plenty of praise for the experience of Kyle Walker who grabbed the equaliser, adding:
“We went behind but we kept calm and got the goal back through Kyle.
“If anyone was going to win it it would have been us but we didn’t create enough.
“His all round game was exceptional tonight, he covered a very quick winger – his pace was a plus and he showed great composure to take his goal.
“He’s a very important member of our group.
“We just have to keep working on our attaching patterns on the training pitch – the pitch here was a bit slow and dry.
“We wanted to play better tonight but it’s a very important point.“
Southgate made four changes from the side that beat North Macedonia in June.
The injured John Stones, Luke Shaw, and Trent Alexander-Arnold were replaced by Marc Guehi, Ben Chilwell, and Jude Bellingham while Marcus Rashford was replaced by James Maddison.
England struggled to break down a physical and resolute Ukraine side – the opening minutes had few chances as the Ukrainians were forced onto the back foot for long stretches but denied England the space they needed to score.
After 26 minutes, Ukraine scored an unexpected goal with the first shot on target in the game to put England a goal down for the first time since their World Cup quarter final against France.
Right back Yukhym Konoplia went to the touchline and pulled the ball back to Arsenal midfielder Oleksandr Zinchenko who drilled the ball home from 8 yards out after drifting away from Declan Rice.
England had earlier dominated the ball without creating much of note in the stifling Polish heat but they managed to level matters before the break.
Kyle Walker scored his first England goal on his 77th appearance after 41 minutes when he overlapped into the box and controlled a Harry Kane chipped ball into his path to leave the Manchester City man a close range finish from 5 yards out to level the scores.
Harry Maguire headed a ball into the box by Walker over the bar in the second half while Bukayo Saka saw a shot tipped onto the crossbar after 59 minutes by the Ukraine keeper and had a big shout for handball denied by VAR soon afterwards.
Marcus Rashford and Phil Foden were introduced to the action after 65 minutes for James Maddison and Jude Bellingham.
Rashford could have given away a free kick on the edge of the area which a clumsy foul on Mykhailo Mudryk which wasn’t spotted by the referee.
Maguire had an easy header saved and later was booked for flying into a mistimed challenge against the goalkeeper as both tried to reach a loose ball as the game coasted to a finish with honours even.