The third and final preparation game was always likely to prove the toughest, but few expected a toothless and disjointed attack to be the main concern against the side eighth in the world.
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England picked up a 1-0 win over Portugal at Wembley on Thursday night, with Manchester United defender Chris Smalling securing the win for Roy Hodgson’s men.
England’s fans have been clamouring for Wayne Rooney, Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy to be aligned together in attack, but although Hodgson selected the trio in the same team for the first time, Kane and Vardy took up wide positions, with Rooney in the centre.
Fernando Santos’ decision to rest star man Cristiano Ronaldo meant Portugal did not provide their anticipated threat before Bruno Alves showed little sign of the experience accrued over 85 caps when he flung himself through the air to kick Kane in the head 10 minutes before half-time.
It was an exciting end to a match that started slowly and continued in a similar vein.
“We believe that we have so many players at the moment in midfield and in attack, who are really good players, good quality players”.
Now this is a man who has talent.
England appear to have plenty of goals in them as they prepare for Euro 2016 – but they have entered previous tournaments with more and still not delivered.
To Kane’s credit, he immediately got to his feet with the intention of playing on, but the referee deemed the foul serious enough to brandish the red card.
Although Portugal couldn’t find the target once, the visitors restricted England to just four shots on target.
It took a 30-yard effort from Eric Dier to call the Portugal goalkeeper into action after the break, although it began a spell of pressure from the hosts.
“If you play with them going down the middle and Rooney in behind them, you would never be able to defend the wide areas. #ENGvPOR #EURO2016” – former England striker Alan Shearer?(@alanshearer) gives his view on the struggle against Portugal. The captain spoke to the Daily Express about his role in the Euro.
I was really impressed with full backs Kyle Walker and Danny Rose against Portugal. Flashed wide with one long-range strike and will have given rival right-back Nathaniel Clyne pause for thought.
England were unable to make their numerical advantage count before Smalling headed home a fine late left-wing cross from substitute Raheem Sterling to boost Wembley’s flagging pre-tournament optimism. It may not have helped England’s deliberations over personnel and formation in the grand scheme but it did hand them three wins from three warm-up matches before France. Everyone was surprised with the inclusion of Marcus Rashford but one more inclusion in the squad was a bit of a shocker, that was of Jack Wilshere who only played one game all season for Arsenal.
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The English manager would have to put out his best team if his side are to make it out of the group and also do well in the knockout round. England needed a fully operational opponent if they were to learn anything of value.
