In his television commentary on England’s friendly against Austria, Sam Matterface referenced two young Rapid Wien players who can count themselves unlucky not to be in an Austrian squad in which German club football is over-represented.
Striker Ercan Kara is, in fact, 25 years of age, but those familiar with his game know he’s likelier than not to have an impact. His team-mate Yusuf Demir turned 18 that day and, like Kara, has a single cap to his name.
The attacking midfielder scored nine goals in all competitions for Rapid in 2020/21 and is widely regarded as one of Austria’s most thrilling talents. Demir represents a brighter future for Austria as one of several exciting and dynamic teenage prospects playing first team football in Vienna, Salzburg and beyond.
Franco Foda’s Austria, though, are anything but. As such, they provided a sufficiently stodgy test for England in a UEFA EURO 2020 warm-up match badly affected by the European final appearances of Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United.
Although their players were absent from the England squad – the bulk of those cut from the original 33 remained in their stead and played their part at Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium – Gareth Southgate’s weakened team was no scratch selection.
First-choice players were selected where available. Captain Harry Kane, midfielder Declan Rice and goalkeeper Jordan Pickford will all feature against Croatia on June 13th. Kieran Trippier, deployed on the left with Luke Shaw and Ben Chilwell unavailable, could well start the tournament on the right.
With tactical flexibility seen as important and Harry Maguire’s fitness in question, the other three starting defenders weren’t selected in the squad to make up the numbers. Trent Alexander-Arnold faced Austria with a point to prove, while Conor Coady and Tyrone Mings will be in contention unless Maguire’s recovery is quicker than expected.
Jude Bellingham made his first start in midfield alongside Rice; he too is pushing for a place rather than preparing for a summer on the bench.
But perhaps the most competitive positions other than right back are the ones behind or flanking Kane, depending on the system. Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford and Phil Foden were unavailable against Austria, as was the more withdrawn Mason Mount, while Jadon Sancho was ill.
In stepped Bukayo Saka and Jack Grealish – by common consent not likely to dislodge any of the aforementioned forwards – and they were arguably England’s key contributors in a worthwhile but ultimately uninspiring 1-0 victory.
The versatile Arsenal youngster flew out of the gates at the Riverside, offering England’s only route behind the Austrian defensive line in a sometimes stagnant first half. Grealish endured a difficult spell early in the game, during which he was kicked from pillar to post and was uncharacteristically profligate in possession, but he soon emerged the game’s most influential player by far.
Ten minutes into the second half he was the driving force behind the only goal of the game. Picking up the ball inside his own half, he squirted a pass out to the left and powered forward in search of a return from Kane.
The pass eluded Grealish but Jesse Lingard – the only player in England’s starting line-up not named in Southgate’s EURO 2020 squad the day before – was on hand to cushion a sumptuous first-time touch into Grealish’s path and put him through on goal. A last-ditch tackle denied him a first England goal but put Saka’s on a plate with goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann still stranded at Grealish’s feet.
Kane’s part in the goal added to the growing debate about his playing style in an England shirt. When Tottenham Hotspur have performed well in the last year it’s been with Kane willing to drop deep and connect the play for the likes of Heung-min Son and Gareth Bale, albeit without compromising his own typically stellar goal tally.
For England, it’s a shift that’s yet to fully play out. It demands wide players or attacking midfielders go past him without hesitation, allowing him to become a passing fulcrum at the top of the middle third, and it creates a need for someone else to sniff out the half-chances around the box.
It didn’t work at all for England in the first half in Middlesbrough. Early in the second, with Grealish and Saka and Lingard in tune going forward, we saw its benefit writ large in the winning goal.
At the other end, Pickford eased through the match safe in the knowledge that his only real competition was injured. Even when Nick Pope is fit, Pickford is Southgate’s preferred option thanks in no small part to his kicking. It was in excellent shape against Austria as both a weapon of fast destruction and a safe release under pressure.
The visitors clocked up four shots on target but the only real test of the evening drew a fine fingertip save from Pickford to divert Marcel Sabitzer’s shot onto the crossbar. Dean Henderson, Sam Johnstone and indeed Pope are flawed in their own ways. Pickford’s occasional mania is outweighed by his ability and style.
Mings and Coady had little chance to demonstrate theirs but the Aston Villa man managed to simultaneously prove himself comfortable at international level and give Southgate a reason to doubt it. There’s little point in speculating about how he came to clean out Sasa Kalajdzic off the ball but one thing is certain: if it had been seen, England would have had a problem.
Bellingham’s first start was followed by England debuts off the bench for Everton’s Ben Godfrey and Ben White of Brighton & Hove Albion, both of whom missed the cut for the EURO 2020 squad. They were involved in different flavours of goal-line action, with a nervous backpass from Godfrey forcing Pickford to scamper home to avert a disaster and White impressively clearing an effort from Alessandro Schopf.
It was a satisfactory evening for Southgate but Alexander-Arnold’s late injury soured the taste. A surprisingly controversial inclusion as one of four right backs, Alexander-Arnold had a chance to stake his claim but instead sustained the thigh injury that soon ruled him out of the summer tournament.
The negatives didn’t start there. A not insignificant number of England supporters chose to boo the players as they took a knee at kick-off. The idiocy of it has been covered at length elsewhere but they’re not listening anyway. It’s as sickening as it is predictable – quite apart from anything else, if you can’t bring yourself to support your own players even with silence, they’re not the problem.
International friendlies are unpopular and when they’re scattered in between qualifying matches they’re at least partially there to allow coaches to learn and players to develop in the less familiar surroundings of the national team.
Not so with a tournament nine days away. It’s a shame that Southgate’s preparation was interrupted so obviously by the European club finals but England should be robust enough to ride it out. Southgate wanted a winning start, however, and he got what he wanted with another friendly, against Romania, to follow.
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Chris Nee
@SphinxFtbl