THE NOTEBOOK: Kyle Walker has the longest wait for first England goal, while club managers will be unimpressed by pitch two weeks after Oleksandr Usyk’s boxing clash
- England dropped Euro 2024 qualifying points in their 1-1 draw against Ukraine
- Some Premier League managers will be unhappy with pitch after boxing clash
- Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport’s podcast ‘It’s All Kicking Off’
England were held to a 1-1 draw by Ukraine in Saturday’s Euro 2024 qualifier held in Poland due to the ongoing conflict involving the traditional home side.
Arsenal’s Oleksandr Zinchenko put Ukraine ahead after 26 minutes with a fierce shot from the middle of the penalty area after a smart attack by the hosts.
But Kyle Walker scored his first international goal with five minutes left in the first half, getting himself in behind the Ukrainian defence to make a smart finish.
The second half remained goalless, with both sides unable to find a winner. The draw is the first time England have dropped points in five Group C games, while Ukraine’s point gives them seven points from four matches so far.
Here’s MailSport‘s Sami Mokbel with some of the different talking points from the Wroclaw Stadium after the 1-1 draw.
Kyle Walker became the 450th goalscorer for England when he levelled the scores in Poland
Arsenal star Oleksandr Zinchenko opened the scoring for the hosts – playing in Wroclaw, Poland
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Gloves are off in No 2 fight
The race to be England No 2 at Euro 2024 is gearing up to be an uncertain one.
As it stands, Aaron Ramsdale is widely recognised as Jordan Pickford’s understudy but the Arsenal keeper is in danger of losing his place in Mikel Arteta’s team to David Raya.
Sam Johnstone, the third keeper in Gareth Southgate’s current squad, returns to Crystal Palace next week knowing the club have just signed Dean Henderson from Manchester United for £20m.
While Pickford can be sure of playing regularly at Everton ahead of the tournament, the emerging ambiguity over Southgate’s fall back options won’t have gone unnoticed by the England head coach.
Aaron Ramsdale is recognised as England’s No 2, but could lose his place in the Arsenal team
Surface Tension
There’d have been a few Premier League managers sat at home alarmed at the state of the pitch here in Wroclaw.
The turf still appeared to be feeling the effects of Oleksandr Usyk’s world heavyweight title defence against Daniel Dubois a fortnight ago.
An accident waiting to happen; although some of the meaty challenges flying in from the Ukrainians caused more heart stopping moments for club bosses they could have done without with James Maddison and Bukayo Saka, in particular, on the receiving end.
Premier League managers may not have been impressed by the state of the pitch in Wroclaw
The match came two weeks after Oleksandr Usyk had his world title defence in the stadium
450 UP FOR THREE LIONS
Kyle Walker became the 450th different player to score for England. On his 77th cap, it is the longest any player has waited for his first England strike.
NO SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT FROM MUDRYK
There was little evidence on show here that Mykhailo Mudryk is anywhere near to showing the sort of form that saw Chelsea pay £88million for him in January.
His move to west London has been an unmitigated disaster so far, and by the looks of things it isn’t going to improve anytime soon.
ENGLAND NOT WAITING AROUND
England travelled directly to their temporary base in Glasgow ahead of Tuesday’s home nations friendly against Scotland following Saturday night’s clash in Poland.
Retreating to home comforts back at St George’s Park before travelling north on Monday was an option, but Southgate and his staff believed their preparations were better suited to flying straight to Scotland.
There was little evidence on show to justify the £88m Chelsea paid to sign Mykhailo Mudryk
IT’S ALL KICKING OFF!
It’s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.
It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.
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