Why are your best players tired before the Euro Cup? Gareth Southgate must have thought the same, who in his first warm-up friendly beat Bosnia Herzegovina (3-0) with a team full of substitutes.
The reason must be that or even to finish deciding on the disposals that the coach has to make, who has put forward 33 players, so up to 7 will be removed from the list, starting with one of the four goalkeepers who have targeted everything at Trafford.
Of those who started against Bosnia, only Trent Alexander-Arnold and Kieran Trippier could have a place as starters and breathe easier. The rest, leaving Cole Palmer and his protégé Gallagher, had a few days to convince the coach, although some did strangely, because the game was flat in every sense until the changes came.
There were almost no chances on either goal. Eze threatened a good start, but it remained tentative. Just in time, with a VAR penalty for dispossessing Konsa, Palmer scored his first international goal before the presumed majority of the starters arrived. Kane, Maddison and Grealish raised the level of the match and England gave a strong boost which led to goals from Alexander-Arnold (85′) and the Bayern striker (89′) to end on a good note.
ENGLAND
30
Bosnia
England: Pickford; Konsa, Dunk (Joe Gómez, min. 73), Guéhi (Branthwaite, min. 62), Trippier (Wharton, min. 62); Alexander-Arnold, Gallagher; Bowen, Palmer (Maddison, min. 61), Eze (Grealish, min. 61); and Watkins (Kane, min. 61).
Bosnia: Vasilj; Bicakcic (Mujakic, min. 73), Ahmedhodzic (Muharemovic, min. 82), Katic, Radeljic (Hadzikadunic, min. 74), Gazibegovic; Hajradinovic, Saric (Huseinbasic, min. 63), Tahirovic; Gigovic (Burnic, min. 82) and Demirovic (Tabakovic, min. 74).
The objectives: 1-0, min. 60: Palmer, penalty; 2-0, min. 85: Alexander-Arnold; 3-0, min. 89: Kane.
Referee: Rohit Saggi (Norway). He showed yellow cards to Guehi (min. 29) for England and Tahirovic (min. 59) and Gazibegovic (min. 64) for Bosnia.
Happenings: friendly match played in St. James’ Park stadium in Newcastle before nearly 48,000 spectators
see the match sheet
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
