They displayed a constellation of twinkling lights with their phones, let off smoke bombs, then settled into more or less ten minutes of solid whistling for the referee to signal full-time. When it came it was sweet for them, and Gareth Southgate embraced Serhiy Rebrov with an extra sense of warmth. Even England’s manager could put the result second to the feelings of the Ukrainian people, demonstrated by their supporters in the Tarczynski Arena in Wroclaw, Poland, for whom this draw was a mighty moment of honour protected and defiance shown.
But what did it mean for England? Their passage to Euro 2024 still looks so assured it would be disingenuous to suggest any tangible damage was done by the team’s first mediocre performance since before last year’s World Cup. However, international games are so few and far between it is always necessary to try and read into them pointers and answers, and Southgate’s conclusion should be that he will need to think very carefully how to get the best from his riches of talent in the creative wide and midfield positions.
Playing James Maddison as almost a “false 10” who started on the left but came into the middle didn’t work and it wasn’t necessarily the fault of the player. Things were simply too crowded in there. For similar reasons, Jude Bellingham had probably his least effective game in an England shirt, and when Marcus Rashford and Phil Foden came on to replace the pair they didn’t do any better.
On a night where England had so much possession but so little true penetration it was left — as so often when they struggle — to Harry Kane to sort them out. Trailing to an excellent Oleksandr Zinchenko goal, half-time was approaching when Kane deployed his still-underestimated creative intelligence to come so deep that he was beside Marc Guéhi and ping a brilliant long pass to release a breaking Kyle Walker to score. It was Walker’s first goal in 77 internationals — the longest any England player has waited for their first strike.
England were playing against more than 11 men, they were playing against the unbending spirit of a country imperilled by invasion. It is almost always odious when reporters connect sport to war but in the Tarczynski Arena how one influenced the other was unavoidable. This was such a different match to when England last played Ukraine on neutral territory, in a 4-0 romp for Southgate’s side in Rome at Euro 2020. The difference was Ukrainian intensity — a response to the encouragement their supporters gave them from the stands, and plight their homeland is in.
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Around 300,000 Ukrainians — many made refugees after Russia invaded their country — live in the Wroclaw region and around 40,000 compatriots were inside the Tarczynski Arena, holding flags and banners, chanting “U-Krain-ia” and going nuts at the merest hint of their players doing something positive: a turnover of English possession was acclaimed like a goal, a decent cross into Jordan Pickford’s box like almost victory itself.
England did not respond very well to this. On a bumpy surface still recovering from the Oleksandr Usyk v Daniel Dubois heavyweight title fight being staged here two weeks ago, it was a challenge to control the ball smoothly and from the moment Harry Maguire let it bounce up off his feet the first time it went to him, there was a nervousness about Southgate’s defence. The partisan crowd and the edge with which Ukraine attacked discomforted it further. Maguire started despite completing just 23 minutes this season for Manchester United and, on form, Guéhi seemed fortunate to claim a place ahead of Levi Colwill and Lewis Dunk.
Walker’s goal came courtesy of a moment of brilliance from Kane as he sent the defender in with a superb ball
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Ukraine played on the break, sitting back to allow England 84 per cent possession in the first 18 minutes, but once they began coming forward it was with purpose and thrust. Zinchenko’s goal was as sudden and concussive as an Usyk punch. Overloading England’s left, Viktor Tsyhankov slid a fine ball to the overlapping Yukhym Konoplya, whose cut- back evaded Roman Yaremchuk but not Zinchenko who arrived from his No 10 position to stroke a shot home with his cultured left instep.
The screams of joy in the Tarczynski almost split the sky but strategy was at play as well as emotion for Ukraine had taken advantage of a flaw in England’s structure. Southgate started Maddison to the left of Kane but the Tottenham Hotspur creator’s instinct is always to drift into the middle and with Ben Chilwell pushed wide and high and Bellingham, as the left-sided No 8, not offering much defensive cover, there were big spaces on England’s left side to exploit.
Another problem was that Maddison, Bellingham, Jordan Henderson and a deep-dropping Kane all vied to get on the ball in No 10 areas. This led to some intricate English passing outside the box but little penetration. Henderson did get into good space inside the area just after Zinchenko’s strike but couldn’t find Maddison with what should have been a simple square pass.
Soon after that, Maddison flighted a lovely ball to Bellingham, arriving untracked near the penalty spot, but Bellingham was off balance and could not control.
Zinchenko sent the 40,000 Ukraine fans in the stadium into raptures with his opener
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The equaliser came from the last source, bar Pickford, Ukraine expected — Walker. Kane solved the issue of the too-crowded No 10 zone by dropping even deeper, coming back all the way to a space between England’s centre backs to take possession and arrow a 50-yard diagonal ball over Vitaliy Mykolenko and right on to Walker’s toes.
The defender had timed his run inside Ukraine’s left back to perfection, as the VAR check showing him to be millimetres onside confirmed. Controlling well, he volleyed past Georgiy Bushchan and celebrated in the gauche way of someone who doesn’t do that sort of thing very often. Indeed Walker’s career average is a goal every 50 senior games.
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This enabled England to reach the interval level and Southgate to regroup his team under less stress than had they still been trailing. They improved, using the width of the pitch better and attacking with greater variation and dynamism — especially when a move flowed through Bukayo Saka. England’s player of the year came inside to hammer a shot, exploding through the ball in sweet connection, which Bushchan did remarkably well to touch on to the bar.
Saka’s fierce effort struck the bar after Bushchan got a glove to it
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Maguire, doing his best to justify Southgate’s faith in him, threatened at set pieces and snuffed out a dangerous run by Mykhailo Mudryk by coming across to dispossess the Chelsea winger.
The defensive work of Ukraine’s goalkeeper, Buschan, who also made late saves from Rashford and Maguire, was even more heroic.
Walker: It was a relief to score
Kyle Walker, who at 33 years and 104 days old is the second-oldest player to score his first goal for England, was a relived man after hitting the net in his 77th appearance for his country.
“It was a relief [to score]. To represent your country and be as fortunate as I have this many times, it had been on my mind but now I can finally tick it off,” he said after becoming the 450th different player to score for the England men’s team.
He was also pleased with the draw: “It is a point away from home. We are in a good position in the group. It was always going to be tough coming here.”
Gareth Southgate, the England manager, felt his side should have done better. “We controlled the game,” he said. “We didn’t create enough chances. If that’s the case, then you have to make sure you don’t lose the game.”
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Oleksandr Zinchenko, the Arsenal and Ukraine midfielder who scored his country’s goal, said: “It’s an amazing result for us. England are one of the best teams in the word.”
He added: “The atmosphere was unbelievable. It felt like we played at home. I really hope very soon we can play at home.”
