Gareth Southgate fielded an experimental side in their opening Euro 2024 warm-up match. While only Cole Palmer and Eberechi Eze were likely to make the final squad – both shined.
England upped the pace after an uneven first half, and Palmer marked his full debut from the penalty spot with his goal. Trent Alexander-Arnold and Harry Kane helped secure victory through late efforts. For those interested in the full match details, including the England national football team vs Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team lineups, you can find the official team sheet and analysis here.
England
England began Euro 2024 qualifying with an emphatic 3-0 win against Bosnia and Herzegovina at St James’ Park, featuring Cole Palmer scoring from the penalty spot on his first appearance for Gareth Southgate’s side before Trent Alexander-Arnold doubled their advantage five minutes later with a spectacular volley by Trent Alexander-Arnold and Harry Kane adding one last goal from close range for Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions side.
Even with their personnel changes, England managed to dominate this game from beginning to end and create multiple scoring chances. Their opponents struggled to keep up with England’s aggressive attack, failing to create any notable scoring chances of their own. England’s xG of 3.12 was much higher than their opponents’ score indicating the difference in class between them both.
Gareth Southgate experimented with his team’s lineup, ultimately finding success by pairing Jesse Lingard from Manchester United with Trent Alexander-Arnold of Liverpool; both players possess outstanding passing ability that works well when combined for attacking moves.
Ollie Watkins from Manchester City has been impressive this season, helping lead them into the Champions League semis and likely playing an instrumental role for his national team this summer. Watkins can pose a great threat at goal; be wary if any Bosnia defence has been vulnerable this term as Watkins might capitalize at -135 odds to score goals against them.
England boasts one of the strongest defensive units in Europe and should easily shut down any attack from Bosnia. Their quick and agile defenders should be able to effectively deal with any threats coming their way while Jordan Pickford should maintain his impressive goalkeeping streak for England.
Edin Dzeko
England kicked off their Euro 2024 warmups in Newcastle with an emphatic 3-0 win against Bosnia and Herzegovina under Gareth Southgate’s management, showing why they are one of the favorites for next summer. Their expected goals (xG) score was 3.12 while that for Bosnia was just 0.03
In this match, England played with an experimental approach, leaving out many of their first-choice players and starting an inexperienced starting eleven. While England did manage to dominate possession throughout most of the first half, they lacked creativity or pace needed to break through Bosnia’s staunch defence, failing to create any notable chances in return.
After half-time, however, things began to turn around with an injection of energy from the home side. Trippier and Eze were deployed more advanced roles that allowed them to link with central midfielders more easily; an excellent cross-field pass from Alexander-Arnold found Ollie Watkins who almost scored.
Kane again created an opportunity for Palmer, but his shot from Chelsea striker’s shot was deflected wide. Finally, Konsa was brought down inside the penalty area by Ermin Bicakcic and awarded a penalty that Palmer coolly converted for his first England goal.
After that, England found their feet. Possession was dominant at home and they moved the ball quickly and intelligently; Konsa created another opportunity after breaking free of three challenges but his low effort was saved by Vasilj.
England continued their push, with Trippier and Gallagher moving upfield frequently in support of the attack. This opened up space for forwards to run into and they took full advantage. Palmer found himself in an ideal position to shoot but his shot was deflected just wide of the post.
Late on, Bosnia and Herzegovina nearly gained some hope through Anthony Gordon. His header at the near post struck Katic on his arm but was not considered offside by the linesman.
Gareth Southgate
Gareth Southgate’s selections and tactics were closely scrutinised ahead of tonight’s Euro 2024 warm-up against Bosnia. England struggled in the opening half hour but found their feet after halftime, as Cole Palmer marked his full debut by scoring from the penalty spot from Cole Palmer’s kick off, before Trent Alexander-Arnold pinged around passes and scored brilliantly from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s pass-play volley; Jack Grealish who appeared to be on the cusp of losing his spot stepped up when came on and finished off their comfortable victory – before Harry Kane put his stamp on victory with one final goal late on his run from.
It was important for England that this game served as an audition for those fighting to secure spots in their final squad for Germany this summer’s tournament, particularly Declan Rice, Kobbie Mainoo and Jude Bellingham who will need to prove their worth alongside Phil Foden and Jordan Henderson in inverted roles.
England’s back four was set as expected, with Jordan Pickford playing as expected at goal and Kieran Trippier taking up left-back in place of Luke Shaw who remains injured. Southgate included Everton centre-back Michael Keane as well as Burnley right-back Kieran Gibbs for further cover in defence.
England’s attacking options remained virtually the same from last week with Danny Ings, Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling starting up front for England. Southgate selected an impressive frontline, though Ben Chilwell was unexpectedly left off due to choosing an experienced defender instead of him as replacement for injured Ben Gibson. Arsenal youngster Eberechi Eze was also given a place, although he failed to make an impressionful showing. Luke Watkins was replaced with Manchester City midfielder Ollie Watkins as the sole change. England produced an impressive performance against Bulgaria on Tuesday and should take all three points with relative ease. They’ll face Switzerland again on Friday without too much worry, knowing they can field similar squad and expect another comfortable win.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
England continued their preparations for Euro 2024 this evening when they hosted Bosnia and Herzegovina at St James’ Park for a friendly. Gareth Southgate made changes to his starting XI that faced Netherlands and Hungary; five new faces made their debuts, such as Tim Kleindienst replacing Kai Havertz due to injury while Serge Gnabry came in place of Jamal Musiala who has left.
Cole Palmer made his senior international debut a memorable one by scoring England’s opening goal against Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Newcastle United winger scored from a penalty after Ezri Konsa was fouled; Trent Alexander-Arnold and Harry Kane added further goals as England cruised towards victory.
The match will be broadcast live in the UK on Sky Sports 4 and HD channels, and subscriber can also stream it online via NOW TV.
Bosnia and Herzegovina enter this competition having lost eight of their previous nine international matches – beginning their UEFA Nations League campaign with an emphatic 5-0 defeat to Netherlands and concluding September with a goalless draw against Hungary.
The Dragons have yet to secure their first victory of this campaign and hope to stave off relegation from Group A3. Currently sitting bottom, but boasting an excellent head-to-head record against Germany who they face next in Group A3, hope is still strong in Group A3.
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s national football team, commonly referred to as “Zmajevi,” has earned them the name because of their striking blue and white kits inspired by their country’s flag. Kelme produces these kits; main sponsors for them include m:tel and Coca-Cola. The national team boasts several commercial sponsors, such as Siemens, Privredna banka Sarajevo and ASA Osiguranje. Their logo consists of a shield bearing a stylized “Bosnia” lettering on it as well as black, red, and yellow flags – their colours being red for Bosnia, yellow for Serbia, blue for Albania. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s national anthem is known as the National Song, and is performed at both ends of each match. Composed and performed by various musicians, its aim is to celebrate independence and unity within this nation.