England have beaten Bosnia & Herzegovina 3-0 at St James’ Park in the first of their two Euro 2024 warm-up friendlies
Michael Dominski
Getty Images
Michael Dominski·Live Reporter
Result: England 3-0 Bosnia
- 60': Palmer scores penalty after VAR rules Tahirovic fouled Konsa
- 85': Alexander-Arnold doubles lead with brilliant low volley
- 89': Kane forces home amid goal-line scrum to pad lead
What next for England?
Not long to wait until England are back in action and then not long to wait until Euro 2024 gets underway.
Gareth Southgate and his players are back on Friday, June 7 as they face Iceland at Wembley at 7:45pm BST / 2:45pm ET / 11:45am PT.
Then, it is all eyes on Germany — here are the key dates:
- Friday, June 7 – Euro 2024 final squads must be submitted
- Saturday, June 8 – Euro 2024 final squads will be announced
- Sunday, June 16 – Serbia vs England (Euro 2024)
- Thursday, June 20 – Denmark vs England (Euro 2024)
- Tuesday, June 25 – England vs Slovakia (Euro 2024)
- Saturday, June 29 - Tuesday, July 2 – Euro 2024 Round of 16
- Friday, July 5 & Saturday, July 6 – Euro 2024 Quarter-finals
- Tuesday July 9 & Wednesday, July 10 – Euro 2024 Semi-finals
- Sunday, July 14 – Euro 2024 final
Advertisem*nt
England 3-0 Bosnia: The Briefing
Getty Images
- Eze and Palmer do their bit
- England's full-back situation is becoming concerning
- St James' Park waited 19 years for an international - it wasn't a classic
The Athletic's Chris Waugh and George Caulkin were on hand to deliver The Briefing from St James' Park — make sure to check it out below.
Kane asked to take Palmer's penalty
Getty Images
Speaking after the match, Gareth Southgate has said this of Harry Kane: "He had the audacity to ask to come on and to score the penalty, which was never going to happen!"
Kane came on as a substitute immediately after the goal. Asking to take away the first career England goal of a 22-year-old team-mate is just about the most selfish thing this Arsenal fan has ever seen!
Palmer joins exclusive group
Getty Images
Cole Palmer's opening goal made him the fifth player to score his first senior England goal from the penalty spot, and the second in the last three months.
The others are:
- Tommy Lawton (1938)
- Alf Ramsey (1951)
- Allan Clarke (1970)
- Ivan Toney (2024)
Kane surpasses Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic
Getty Images
Harry Kane's 63rd England goal to wrap up the scoring tonight means he now has more international goals than Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the Brazilian Ronaldo (both 62).
Who remains uncapped?
Getty Images
In the provisional 33-man squad that Gareth Southgate selected for these two warm-up matches, there were five players who had yet to make their national team debut: James Trafford (Burnley), Jarrad Branthwaite (Everton), Jarell Quansah (Liverpool), Curtis Jones (Liverpool) and Adam Wharton (Crystal Palace).
Branthwaite and Wharton (pictured above) made their England debuts off the bench today with just under half an hour to go, but the other three remain uncapped. That may be a sign that Quansah and Jones are unlikely to be included in the final 26-man squad.
As for Trafford, there are two goalkeeper spots available after Jordan Pickford, and the other two men in contention for them don't have many caps either – Aaron Ramsdale has four and Dean Henderson has just one.
Advertisem*nt
England 3-0 Bosnia: The losers
Getty Images
Much harder to choose players for this one, but there were a couple of players who struggled.
- Marc Guehi – By no means assured of a final-squad place and made two glaring errors; a poor tackle and a bad error not far from goal
- Ollie Watkins – Flying for Aston Villa but always struggles to excite for England and hardly had a sniff against three Bosnia centre-backs
- Ivan Toney – Having impressed against Belgium in March, he was not given the opportunity to show what he can do tonight – maybe it means his place is safe but, with Kane starting on Friday, he might be worried
England 3-0 Bosnia: The winners
Getty Images
Plenty to consider in here, with Eze and Alexander-Arnold — the two best players on the pitch by some way — at the top.
- Trent Alexander-Arnold – Man of the Match; passing was outstanding and his performance was capped by a sublime goal
- Ebere Eze – One of those on the fringes before tonight who will surely go to Germany, effortlessly glided past defenders all night
- Ezri Konsa – Looked assured and confident in and out of possession
- Jack Grealish – Doubts over his place but looked really sharp off the bench and provided a great assist for Alexander-Arnold
- Adam Wharton – Came on for his debut and looked every bit good enough to take a place in the final squad
- Jarrad Branthwaite – Spoiled a little bit by a yellow card but always a special moment to make an international debut
Winners and losers
Now that we've heard from two of the goalscorers and the managers, let's take a look at this evening's winners and losers.
There were players that did their hopes of a tournament place no harm and others who might have slipped down the pecking order.
But who is in each camp? Let's have a look.
Match stats
Getty Images
England 3-0 Bosnia
- Shots: 25 - 1
- Shots on goal: 8 - 0
- Saves: 0 - 5
- Possession: 71% - 29%
- Corners: 11 - 2
- Fouls: 7 - 16
- Yellow cards: 2 - 2
A dominant second-half performance by the hosts sees the stats finish rather lopsided.
Southgate on whether he's closer to final squad decision
Finally, Southgate was asked whether he is any closer to making a final squad decision for Euro 2024.
"The great thing is we've got through the last few days with no big problems," he said. "We'll have to assess everybody from tonight, but I don't think there's anything from that. That's really important.
"We needed to get through these first few matches and the (club) finals that were being played to have a clearer picture and the guys that have been rehabbing have progressed well."
Asked if today's game has given him any more selection issues, Southgate said: "A little bit, but that's a good thing.
"I'd rather we have good performances and it causing me to think than poor performances. There were a lot of individual things that I was very pleased with."
Advertisem*nt
Southgate confirms Kane will start on Friday
Southgate revealed that the plan was always to bring Kane on from the bench today before starting him against Iceland on Friday.
"Yeah, our plan today was half an hour and he'll start on Friday," he said. "He's trained all week with no problems and he looks in good shape."
Southgate on Eze and Palmer performances
Getty Images
The England manager was then asked what he thought to Eze and Palmer's performances in attack.
"Very good. I thought they both played with a freedom," said Southgate. "Ebe (Eze) has got lovely movement to go past players in the centre of the pitch, he's got power so we're really happy with what he did.
"And I thought Cole was trying to be a little bit too precise a couple of times to get the touch to open up the shot. Maybe if he'd got his shot away a little bit earlier sometimes, he could've got a couple more."
Southgate: 'The scoreline reflected the performance'
Getty Images
Southgate was asked after the match if he and his players got everything from that game that they wanted.
"Yeah, I think so. An opponent that was dogged, determined. A good tempo to the game so, physically, it was a good workout," he told Channel 4.
"We just had to be patient and we felt, in the end, we'd create the chances and that's how it turned out. I thought the scoreline reflected the performance."
Palmer: 'Hopefully I can go to Germany'
Getty Images
Palmer was asked if he thinks he has done enough to get a place in England's final squad for Euro 2024.
"I'm not sure, I hope so," he said. "Tonight probably wasn't my best game but it's been a long season.
"I'm just trying to find my feet with it being my first start for England. Hopefully I can go to Germany."
Kane alleviates any worries over his fitness
Getty Images
Kane was asked about his fitness, having not featured in the last couple of games of Bayern Munich's season.
"I'm feeling good. A lot of the end-of-season (absence) was precaution with a big summer coming up," he said. "We didn't want to take any risks with it and, in the end, it was a good chance to get a good break after a tough season.
"We've been in camp now for nearly a week, I've had a good week training, some minutes here and hopefully some minutes on Friday so that I'm ready to go come the group stage."
Advertisem*nt
Big praise for 'unbelievable' Palmer from Kane
Getty Images
Kane had some nice words for Palmer when asked about the 22-year-old's debut campaign at Chelsea.
"(He's had) an unbelievable season," said the England captain. "It's never easy moving club and to do what he's done in his first season at Chelsea is a credit to him and the team he was in as well.
"We're very happy to have him, I'm delighted he's got his goal there today and we're going to need all our players chipping in with important goals in a couple of weeks.
"The more people that are feeling good, the better."
Palmer: A great feeling to score for your country
Getty Images
And while it was a 63rd goal for Kane, his team-mate Cole Palmer opened his England account this evening.
"It's a great feeling, your first goal for your country," he told Channel 4. "Everyone wants to score for their country so I was buzzing when it went in."
Kane: 'Really good game for us'
Getty Images
Half an hour's worth of minutes in the legs and another goal for England summed up a decent night for Kane.
"Really good game for us," he told Channel 4. "It's been a good camp, meeting up five or six days ago. For me personally, it's about having a good week training and then getting some minutes here and hopefully some more on Friday as well.
"Good preparation. Of course, there are things we can do better but overall, a good night for us."
Load more updates