KEIR RADNEDGE at WEMBLEY —- England fought back from two goals down to draw 3-3 here with a German side who had threatened to wreck the hosts’ last appearance before facing Iran at the World Cup finals in Qatar in November.

The draw was deserved on both counts though, in England’s case, this was only after desperation provoked them into a second-half revival. Even so they are six matches without a win, their most disappointing such sequence since 1993.

England had surprised themselves and their fans by reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup in Russia and had then lost last year’s Euro final to Italy only on penalties. But relegation from the Group A of the Nations League, amid a string of poor performances, had swell and truly popped those bubbles.

Certainly injuries had not helped. No1 goalkeeper Jordan Pickford missed the latest round of tests and deputy Nick Pope had a nightmare. Tigerish midfielder Kalvyn Phillips may miss Qatar altogether with a shoulder injury. Yet most other World Cup managers would envy Southgate the blessings of a team with Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane. Both were tirelessly superb.

Raheem Sterling should have opened the scoring in the 24th minute. The Chelsea striker collected a penetrative pass from Luke Shaw and sent two defenders the wrong way only for Marc-Andre ter’Stegen to save with his feet. Minutes later captain Kane volleyed wide across goal from an angle on the right.

Beyond that neither team raised much of a threat to the opposition goal and England were disrupted in the 37th minute when John Stones appeared to pull a hamstring and had to be substituted by Manchester City club-mate Kyle Walker.

England raised their game briefly just before the interval with ter Stegen again saving from Sterling after a perfectly-timed through ball from Kane; Germany responded with Joshua Kimmich thumping a low drive narrowly wide of Pope’s right-hand post.

Sterling was denied again by ter Stegen early in the second half and it proved a costly waste of an opening as Germany took the lead in the 52nd minute.

Harry Maguire, sent the wrong way by Jamal Musiala,, tripped the former Engand youth international. Initially Dutch referee Danny Makkelie waved play on but then he consulted his video screen on VAR advice and Ilkay Gundogan coverted the penalty.

Twice Germany should then have extended their lead. First sloppy England covering allowed Niklas Sule to stride forward to the edge of the penalty box and unleash a low shot which skimmed the wrong side of Pope’s right-hand post Then it was the turn of substitute Timo Werner to arrow an effort on the run wide of the other upright.

Musiala had delivered the assist on both occasions.

Werner’s arrival at the apex of the German attack had changed the dynamic of the match. England were being strung out and Musiala, Kimmich and Co revelled in the newly-created space.

Hence, in the 67th minute another break saw Werner switch attack from left to right so his old Chelsea team-mate Havertz could deliver a magnificent angled drive up beyond the helpless Pope’s flailing right hand.

Remarkably England, fired by desperation and possibly fear of the crowd’s reaction, suddenly discovered a spirit and intensity missing from the previous hour’s play. Luke Shaw scored one, Mason Mount thumped a superb second and Kane rattled home his 16th England penalty after Nico Schlotterbeck’s late challenge on Bellingham.

The lead lasted only minutes. The hapless Pope failed to hold a low drive from substitute Serge Gnabry and Havertz tapped in a final, and deserved, German equaliser.

The teams

England: Pope – Stones (Walker 37), Dier, Maguire – James, Bellingham (J Henderson 90), Rice, Shaw – Foden (Mount 65). Kane, Sterling (Saka 65). Unused subs: D Henderson, Ramsdale, Chilwell, Coady, Guehi, Trippier, Abraham, Toney.

Germany: ter Stegen – Kehrer, Süle, N. Schlotterbeck, Raum (Gosens 68) – Kimmich, Gündogan, Hofmann (Werner 46), Musiala (Muller 68), Sané (Gnabry 68) – Havertz (Bella-Kotchap 90). Unused subs: Baumann, Trapp, Ginter, Henrichs, Arnold.

Referee: D Makkelie (Net). Attendance: 78,949.

############