England held by North Macedonia in Euro 2024 qualifier
Gareth Southgate's side trailed to Enis Bardhi's first-half strike before Jani Atanasov's own goal gifted the visitors their second-half equaliser at the Tose Proeski Arena. Having finished as Group C winners with six victories and two draws, England will be in the first pot of Euro 2024 seeds alongside Germany, Portugal, France, Spain and Belgium.
That should increase their chances of landing a favourable group when the draw for next year's tournament in Germany is made on December 2nd. But whoever England are pitted against, Southgate will know they need a significant improvement on this spluttering display to live up to their billing as one of the favourites to win the Euros.
"I thought that given we had already qualified and everything had been achieved the mentality of the players was excellent," Southgate insisted. "The quality on the ball was good on a difficult pitch. Just that final pass or finish was difficult to find." Southgate this week challenged fourth-placed England to leapfrog Argentina, France and Brazil to become FIFA's number one team in the world rankings.
But even beating North Macedonia, 66th in the rankings, proved beyond Southgate's injury-hit side. The current international break has appeared an unwanted distraction for England players in the midst of draining Premier League and Champions League campaigns. Southgate admitted England had been "flat" in their lacklustre 2-0 win over Malta on Friday and once again they were unable to impose themselves on inferior opposition.
The initial signs were promising for England as Declan Rice smashed a fierce drive against the post from 20 yards. England crushed North Macedonia 7-0 at Old Trafford in June, but it soon became obvious there would be no repeat.
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