England vs
Portugal Highlights and Full
Match
Competition: Friendlies
Date: 2 June 2016
Stadium:
Wembley Stadium (
London)
Referee: M. Guida
As send-offs go,
England’s final match before heading for
French territory was threatening to be a damp and sullen occasion until the late flourish when
Chris Smalling headed in the game’s decisive moment. They had played until that
point without spark or spontaneity, which was quite some feat bearing in mind the number of attacking players
Roy Hodgson had shoehorned into his team, and the impression it left was that England’s manager is still uncertain about his best team or formation for
Euro 2016.
That has to be alarming this close to the tournament and it does leave questions for
Hodgson about why he has left it so late to experiment with
Wayne Rooney,
Harry Kane and
Jamie Vardy in the same side. It has been a long time since Vardy has looked so flat but that was just in keeping with England’s overall display on a night when they struggled to put together a noteworthy chance until one of their substitutes,
Raheem Sterling, crossed for
Smalling to score with a glancing 86th-minute header.
It probably summed up England’s display that their right-back,
Kyle Walker, was named as the official man of the match and the dreariness of the performance must have been startling for Hodgson, especially given that
Bruno Alves, the Portugal centre-half, was sent off in the first half.
England can take encouragement that they managed to win while playing so poorly but there will surely have to be an improvement when they play
Russia in
Marseille on Saturday week.
If Hodgson does persevere with this starting line-up in the
Stade Vélodrome, England’s manager will be entrusting five of his places to players from
Tottenham Hotspur.
Dele Alli and
Eric Dier form two points of the midfield diamond,
Kane has established himself as a mandatory pick while
Walker and
Danny Rose are not only there to defend when they have the running ability to drive forward from the full-back positions and supply the width that might otherwise be lacking.
Walker, in particular, was involved in some of England’s brighter attacks, particularly in the first half, and those forward surges made it easy to understand why Hodgson opted for Dier, rather than the more attack-minded
Jack Wilshere, in the covering midfield position.
Yet there were obvious imperfections when
Rooney operating in the No10 role meant
Alli being removed from the position where he is at his most effective. Alli was on the left of England’s midfield, with
James Milner covering on the right, and there were times when it felt as though he was being slightly restricted. Kane was also under instructions, when Portugal were in possession, to move to the right wing and cover the left-back,
Eliseu, just as Vardy had orders to do the same with
Vieirinha on the other side. They both carried out their orders but, unfortunately for England, it never quite looked right. It also meant there was little evidence of the Alli-Kane link-up that had been so effective for
Spurs as well as their previous internationals together.
With such an attacking lineup, it certainly felt bemusing that England started the game without any real tempo. Vardy, for instance, thrives on quick, penetrative football and he struggled to make any impact whatsoever during those awkward spells, even before the red card for
Alves, when Hodgson’s team struggled to find any real momentum.
Perhaps the most perplexing part is that England are still looking for the right formation so close to the tournament and, in a strange way, it probably did not help Hodgson’s fact-finding exercise when Portugal went down to ten men.
At 34, Alves surely ought to have enough experience and knowhow to appreciate that his flying, studs-up challenge on Kane was senseless in a game of this nature. To put it in context, Kane is a six-footer and was jumping for the ball when Alves’s boot caught him on the side of the head.
It is a measure of Kane’s competitive instincts that he was immediately back on his feet, chasing after the ball, but he could easily have been maimed.
The Italian referee,
Marco Guida, made the correct decision and Kane should just be relieved he escaped unhurt.
England:
Hart; Walker,
Cahill, Smalling,
Rose; Dier, Alli,
Milner; Rooney, Kane, Vardy.
Subs:
Forster,
Sterling,
Lallana, Clyne,
Henderson, Sturridge,
Stones, Wilshere, Barkley,
Rashford,
Heaton.
Portugal:
Rui Patricio; Vieirinha, Bruno Alves,
Carvalho, Eliseu;
João Mário,
Danilo Pereira,
Adrien Silva,
João Moutinho,
Rafa;
Nani, Rafa.
Subs: Lopes,
Fonte, Guerreiro,
Eder,
William Carvalho,
Andre Gomes,
Renato Sanches, Quaresma, Cedric,
Eduardo.
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- published: 03 Jun 2016
- views: 46