Palmer’s first goal helps England win
NEWCASTLE: Cole Palmer scored his first England goal as the Chelsea forward’s penalty inspired a 3-0 win against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Monday’s Euro 2024 warm-up.
Palmer marked his maiden start for the Three Lions with a clinical spotkick in the second half at Newcastle’s St James’ Park. In only his third England appearance, the 22-year-old maintained his brilliant Chelsea form to underline his case to make Gareth Southgate’s Euro squad.
Trent Alexander-Arnold was England’s other stand-out performer in their penultimate game before the Euros get underway in Germany.
The Liverpool star — again deployed in midfield rather than at right-back by Southgate — scored England’s second goal to cap a lively display.
Harry Kane, who came off the bench in the second half on his return to fitness, bagged the third goal in the final seconds to put a flattering gloss on an inconsistent display from understrength England.
“The great thing is we’ve got through the last few days with no big [injury] problems,” Southgate said.
“We had an opponent that was dogged and determined, so physically it was a good workout.”
After drawing with North Macedonia in their last Euro qualifier before losing to Brazil and drawing with Belgium in March friendlies, England’s first win in four games brought more questions than answers for Southgate.
Palmer, Alexander-Arnold and Crystal Palace midfielder Eberechi Eze bolstered their chances of winning a seat on the plane to Germany.
“I thought Cole linked the game well for us. Lovely for him to get his first goal,” Southgate said. “Eze played with that freedom and swagger. And we know Trent’s qualities. It’s a beautiful finish.”
But Ollie Watkins, Conor Gallagher and Jarrod Bowen might rue missing their chance to impress.
Southgate remained upbeat, saying: “I’d rather we’d had good performances that caused you to think than poor performances.
“There were lots of individual things I was really pleased with.”
GERMANY HELD BY UKRAINE
Germany were held to a 0-0 draw by Ukraine as the European Championship hosts lacked a cutting edge at a sold out Max-Morlock stadium in Nuremberg. More than 44,000 fans were in jovial mood at kick-off, expecting a Germany that have rediscovered their form under Julian Nagelsmann.
What Germany’s supporters got was something quite different, as Nagelsmann’s side dominated long periods and created many chances but failed to make the breakthrough against a resilient Ukraine. “I had the impression that the team wanted to win and we played very well for long stretches,” Nagelsmann said.