Clash of Titans: North Macedonia vs England LIVE – The Battle for Euro 2024 Qualification

England struggled to a 1-1 draw North Macedonia when their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign ended poorly.

Gareth Southgate’s side secured qualification for next summer’s final Germany last month and a forgettable draw Skopje was certainly enough to confirm that they were among the top seeds for the December draw.

Debutant Rico Lewis had a night to forget at the Tose Proeski Arena when he was awarded a controversial first-half penalty Jordan Pickford saved before Enis Bardhi turned over the rebound.

Captain Harry Kane came off the bench and played a role in the equalizer as Jani Atanasov scored an own goal, but England failed to find a winner.

“Obviously I’m very happy overall. Too bad about the result and the decision that disappointed me. It’s a nice birthday present, to do it with these people around me, it couldn’t have gone better.”

Speaking to Channel 4 after the match, England forward Harry Kane said: “Tough game, we knew it was going to be and it was tough against a decent side playing on a pitch that is difficult to play our style of football.

“We came into the match 1-0 behind with a soft penalty. It was good to be on the pitch, I always try to help the team, whether it’s ninety minutes or ten minutes. It was important for us to get a goal back and a shame we couldn’t score a second one.

“I think it was an own goal, I’m pretty sure. If anyone was going to get a second, it would be us.

“Against Malta we were sloppy with the ball, today we got a bit of a slog with the counter-attack and a soft penalty. We played against a team where people expected us to win five or six clean sheets, but they let Italy down in the World Cup qualifiers by eliminating them.

“We can be very proud of how the qualifying campaign went.”

About debutant Rico Lewis: “I thought he was very good with and without the ball. Too bad about the penalty but he can be proud, I thought he was fantastic. He just has to keep working hard and I am sure he will come back to us.”

England have benefited from an own goal in consecutive matches for the first time since June 2006 (Enrico Pepe for Malta on Friday, Jani Atanasov tonight) against Jamaica and Paraguay.

This was only the third time in their last 26 European Championship qualifiers that England have failed to win (23 won, two drawn, one lost).

For the first time since March 2007, they have completed two consecutive European Championship qualifiers without a win under the leadership of Steve McClaren.

England failed to beat a side ranked as low as 66th in the FIFA rankings for the first time since October 2016 in a goalless draw against Slovenia (67th at the time), in what was Gareth Southgate’s second match was in charge.

Elsewhere in Euro 2024 qualifying, Italy, the Czech Republic and Slovenia have all secured their places in next summer’s tournament.

Italy, the reigning European champions, held on to a 0-0 draw against Ukraine to advance thanks to a better head-to-head record.

The Czech Republic recorded a 3-0 win over Moldova, while Slovenia went to Germany with a 2-1 win over Kazakhstan.

90+6 min: England end their European Championship qualifying campaign undefeated. They end their calendar year undefeated, they are in pot one for seeding at next summer’s European Championship.

By most markers this is a good result, but England will once again be disappointed with the performance. They canceled out a controversial penalty thanks to an own goal.

It was a mediocre international breakthrough and Gareth Southgate has plans for next year.

90+3 minutes: Mark Guehi sends the ball long and picks out Harry Kane. He nods the ball to Phil Foden but England pull out of the final third.

They didn’t do it at all in these two games.

90 min: Six minutes of extra time to play in Skopje as Marcus Rashford sets up a free-kick. He goes for goal, catches it well enough and shoots it wide of the far post.

Is there time for a winning goal?