It was a sobering night at the Euros for the two teams that met in the final three years ago with England labouring to a 1-1 draw with Denmark, and Italy played off the park by Spain.
The defending champions Italy only lost 1-0 but it could have been a night of complete embarrassment as they failed to stem the red tide from an energetic Spanish side, named the best team of the tournament so far by former Socceroo John Aloisi on Otus Sport.
Italy are in some danger of missing the next round and face Croatia next.
England, beaten in the final last time around at home, are almost certain to advance after winning their opening game – but again the tactics and approach under Gareth Southgate have drawn condemnation.
Harry Kane gave England a decent start, scoring in the 18th minute in Frankfurt, but the captain was substituted along with Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka in the second half as the team faded amid a largely dismal display.
Denmark had equalised in the 34th minute when Morten Hjulmand fired in a powerful low shot from long distance, after Kane gave away the ball in defence.
The Danes made England look ragged in the second half, attacking the end from where English fans’ anxiety and jeers increased late in the game.
England now have four points from two games, after edging past Serbia 1-0 in their first match. That points tally always has been enough to advance in the 24-team Euros format but England still look out of sorts.
An honest Kane, who had a poor day despite his goal, admitted: “It’s a time to stay calm …. a time to reflect and to try to improve, but step by step, we’ll get there.
“We’re struggling, with or without the ball. With the ball, we haven’t been good enough … everybody’s dropping below their level a bit.”
England can still finish in any position from first to third in the group C standings after playing unbeaten Slovenia next Tuesday.
Slovenia drew 1-1 with Serbia earlier on Thursday, four days after getting the same result against Denmark.
Southgate had defended his players from what seemed like unfair criticism for the nervy nature of the win against Serbia, but this performance was much harder to defend with Jude Bellingham strangely subdued and the stellar strike trio of Kane, Foden and Saka all being removed in one sweep.
Southgate looked flat-out furious in the 85th after England repeatedly gave away the ball and surrendered a series chances. He barked at his players from the dugout with both index fingers pointing to his temples, urging them to think.
England seized the lead on sleepiness in the Denmark defence. Hesitation by Victor Kristiansen let right-back Kyle Walker surge past him to steal the ball for a pass across the goalmouth.
When the ball reached Kane he poked home a left-footed shot for a record extending 64th England goal.
Kane’s careless pass out of defence soon afterwards went to Hjulmand, who strode forward to fire a low shot past goalkeeper Jordan Pickford with a fine shot from distance that went in off his right-hand post.
The reaction was brutal.
“Lacklustre and poor, outmanoeuvred tactically by Denmark who were the better team,” said former England defender Rio Ferdinand.
“Denmark were well drilled, pressed us very well and forced England to look very average. Our best players operate at the top of the pitch and we set up to defend. We’ve got too good a set of players to sit back and wait and hope to get through.”
Former England player Matthew Upson was more succinct: “It looked like somebody had a hoover which was sucking confidence out of the England players.”
One of the main criticisms of Southgate’s England is that they retreat into their shell having taken the lead in games.
Defender Kyle Walker said this wasn’t planned.
“Not at all. The manager wants us to play free, attacking football,” said Walker.
“Sometimes in tournament football you have to manage the game. It’s tough when you come to these grounds, hostile environments. We’re top of the group so let’s move on.”
Southgate acknowledged that public sentiment isn’t at its peak, and he won’t have improved moods by suggesting the team was missing Kalvin Phillips – a player let go by Manchester City amid claims he was in poor physical condition.
“We know people will be disappointed with our performances. At the moment we are not pressing with the intensity that we need to and that’s meaning we are having to sit be a bit deeper,” said Southgate.
“They are the problems and we need to find the solutions. We need to asses the two performances and work through it together. If you allow players to pick passes then they can play passes which can hurt you.”
Southgate has been operating with Liverpool right back Trent Alexander-Arnold in midfield alongside Declan Rice with Foden on the left. It’s not brought out the best in Alexander-Arnold or Foden and pundits want change/
“He’s had some moments where he’s delivered what we thought he would,”said Southgate of Alexander-Arnold. “We know it’s an experiment. We know we don’t have a natural replacement for Kalvin Philips. We’re trying different things and at the moment we’re not flowing as we’d like.”
Earlier in Munich, a late strike denied Slovenia a first ever win in a European Championship as Serbia snatched a 1-1 draw in Munich.
Zan Karnicnik’s 69th-minute goal put Slovenia on the brink of an historic win until substitute Luka Jovic grabbed the equaliser deep into stoppage time.
Spain march into next round
In Gelsenkirchen, Spain advanced to the round of 16 after a 1-0 win against defending champions Italy.
A 55th-minute own goal by Italy’s Riccardo Calafiori handed victory to Spain in the first clash of international heavyweights at this championship.
Three-time winners Spain totally dominated the Group B game at the Veltins Arena with 16-year-old winger Lamine Yamal further enhancing his reputation as one of football’s most exciting young stars with an outstanding performance.
That was matched by Nico Williams on the left of the attack. He was full of pace and power and should have scored a free header from six yards out.
Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma kept the score down with a string of fine saves until inadvertently pushing the ball into the legs of Calafiori, who couldn’t prevent it from ricocheting into his own goal.
“Other sides watching Spain this evening will be thinking, ‘blimey we won’t want to be facing them in the knockout rounds.’,”said former Premier League striker Chris Sutton on BBC.
“They were phenomenal. All the talk will be about the wingers Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal who were brilliant once again. Rodri is a Rolls Royce in the middle of the pitch, and his partnership with Fabian Ruiz just helped them totally dominate the Italians. Unai Simon had barely anything to do as his defence stood firm in front of him.
“This was a total mismatch. How good were Spain! Too quick, too slick, too sharp on and off the ball for Italy. Totally, totally dominant. One criticism will be that they weren’t ruthless enough, only scoring through an own goal. Gianluigi Donnarumma was brilliant for Italy. Full deserved win for Spain and Italy have some work to do.
(With AP)