Euro 2024 warm-up: England beat Bosnia & Herzegovina, Germany held by Ukraine

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 spot-kick 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.”

Clinical Palmer

A first @England senior goal for Cole Palmer 🥶

He scores from the penalty spot for the lead against Bosnia & Herzegovina! pic.twitter.com/YB9g7gEVGr

— Premier League (@premierleague) June 3, 2024

Southgate must cut seven players from his provisional 33-man squad by Friday’s deadline, which comes as they play their last warm-up against Iceland at Wembley that evening.

Thirteen days before England’s Group C opener against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen on June 16, Bosnia’s visit to Tyneside started the countdown to the Euros.

But of Southgate’s starting line-up, six had fewer than 10 caps as Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka, Kyle Walker, Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire were among the absentees.

Palmer showed an early flash of class with a deft pass to Watkins, but the Aston Villa striker could not find the accuracy to steer his shot past Bosnia keeper Nikola Vasilj.

Causing panic in the Bosnia defence with his pace and movement, Eze threatened to break the deadlock as he shimmied into the penalty area for a shot that Vasilj pushed away.

But England’s passing was ponderous and their movement too sluggish in a limp first half.

Southgate’s men were rewarded for their second half improvement with a 60th minute penalty after Benjamin Tahirovic’s shirt pull sent Ezri Konsa sprawling.

Palmer scored nine penalties for Chelsea this season and he emphatically drilled his latest spot-kick past Vasilj.

Southgate revealed Kane had been keen to come off the bench to take the penalty himself.

“He had the audacity to ask to come on and to score the penalty which was never going to happen!” he said.

Pressing his case to start at the Euros, Alexander-Arnold grabbed his third international goal with a superb volley from Jack Grealish’s cross in the 85th minute.

Kane had the last word, poking home from close-range in the 90th minute after James Maddison’s pass deflected to the England captain.

Germany held by Ukraine in Euro warm-up

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 put on a show less than two weeks before they start Euro 2024 against Scotland in Munich on June 14.

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 told German public broadcaster Das Erste.

“The first 20 minutes of the game were very, very good. We had to take the lead then.

“I think we need to be even more aggressive.

“We simply need to get more players into the box and put a bit more stress not their penalty area. The players we brought on didn’t need any time to get into the game, they all did well,” the 36-year-old added.

Germany came into this game having turned a corner under Nagelsmann, winning their last two games against France and the Netherlands with an aggressive, high tempo style and sparking optimism that, with home advantage, this European Championship could be a successful one.

Nagelsmann was without Real Madrid’s Toni Kroos and Antonio Ruediger, both rested after winning the Champions League final as well as Borussia Dortmund pair Nico Schlotterbeck and Niclas Fuellkrug.

Brighton midfielder Pascal Gross deputised for Kroos admirably, pulling the strings alongside Bayer Leverkusen’s Robert Andrich, and Germany were relatively comfortable at the back, as Stuttgart’s Waldemar Anton enjoyed an assured full debut alongside Jonathan Tah.

It was rather in attack where Germany laboured, lacking a cutting edge - despite the impact of Nagelsmann’s subs.

Arsenal’s Kai Havertz was isolated at times and Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz, whose every touch sent a buzz of excitement around the stadium, failed to get going before his withdrawal at half time.

Germany’s best first half chance fell to Ilkay Guendogan, who mistimed his jump as he attempted to meet a teasing cross by Gross.

The closest Germany came was on the hour, when Maximilian Beier, who had come off the bench a minute earlier, rattled the inside of the post with a first-time shot from Andrich’s perfect through ball.

Thomas Mueller, a second half substitute himself, praised the impact of the 21-year-old Hoffenheim forward who has been linked with a move to the Premier League.

“It was perfectly done by Maxi Beier,” Mueller said.

“You just need that little bit of luck but it came off the very corner of the post. I initially thought it was a goal and he would have deserved it.

“Not winning is not so great but, well, maybe it was a good lift for the tournament,” he added.

Beier shone in his cameo role as Germany peppered the Ukraine goal throughout the game but the visitors’ back line held firm in a fine demonstration of defence, led a string of top saves by goalkeeper Anatolii Trubin.

The Ukrainians, who qualified for their fourth straight Euro with a play-off victory over Iceland in March, will be buoyed by denying the tournament hosts on home soil as they look to come through a group that also includes Romania, Slovakia and Belgium.

While several aspects of the performance will have pleased Nagelsmann – the performances of Gross and Andrich and the impact of Beier and Deniz under off the bench – it was a result that poses some questions ahead of Germany’s final warm-up game against Greece in Moenchengladbach on June 7.

After opening the tournament against Scotland, Germany will face Hungary on June 19 and Switzerland four days later.