England v Bosnia and Herzegovina: Euro 2024 warm-up

Key events

Bosnia and Herzegovina get the party started. Pickford, already none too popular with the locals due to his Sunderland connection, slices a simple clearance straight to Hajradinović. The keeper’s very fortunate the next pass, towards Demirović, is overhit. Goal kick. Relief for Pickford.

The teams are out! England will play tonight in purple change shirts, while Bosnia and Herzegovina wear white. A fun end-of-season, pre-tournament vibe at St James’ Park. We’ll be off in a minute!

Gareth Southgate speaks to Channel 4. “You can’t hide the fact that at this time of preparation, all these games are as big for individual players as well as the team … what we’re looking for is the work we’ve done on the training pitch to be carried out … we’re looking at how they embrace the principles of how we’re trying to play … we know what Trent Alexander-Arnold can do with the ball … we want to make sure he can do the work without the ball … against high-level opponents both sides of the game have to be right … what Cole Palmer has done all season is phenomenal … he has the freedom to pop up and cause problems … Jack Grealish was in a little bit later than the others, and we know less about Eze than we do about Jack … we’ve got four guys who have really good goalscoring records on the pitch … I’m excited to see how they combine together.”

Manchester City supporters will be hoping their old pal Edin Džeko comes off the bench tonight. Džeko is best remembered on these shores for scoring the first of the two late, late goals for City against QPR that dramatically secured the Premier League in 2012, very much that day the Stan Mortensen to Sergio Agüero’s Stanley Matthews. He’s scored 61 goals for his country, by far their leading marksman. The next cab on the rank, Vedad Ibišević, has a mere 28 to his name. Of the other players here tonight, Ermin Bičakčić has the next-best total with two. Džeko has some record all right.

The teams

England: Pickford, Konsa, Dunk, Guehi, Trippier, Gallagher, Alexander-Arnold, Bowen, Palmer, Eze, Watkins.
Subs: Ramsdale, Gomez, Branthwaite, Quansah, Rice, Toney, Grealish, Maddison, Kane, Jones, Wharton, Henderson, Trafford.

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Vasilj, Ahmedhodzic, Katic, Radeljic, Bicakcic, Hajradinovic, Saric, Tahirovic, Gazibegovic, Gigovic, Demirovic.
Subs: Hadzikic, Hadzikadunic, Huseinbasic, Tabakovic, Dzeko, Mujakic, Burnic, Sosic, Muharemovic, Piric.

Referee: Rohit Saggi (Norway).

Having Said That dept. Bosnia and Herzegovina have a very decent record against the other home nations. Since losing to Scotland in a qualifier for Euro 2000, they’re on a seven-game unbeaten tear-up against British sides, winning four and drawing three in matches against Wales (W2 D2) and Northern Ireland (W2 D1).

England have never played Bosnia and Herzegovina before. As one of the favourites for Euro 2024, they’ll be expecting to start a beautiful new relationship with a win; while Gareth Southgate’s side are currently three matches without a victory, Bosnia and Herzegovina are on a four-game losing run, having lost eight of their last ten, their only two victories during that sequence coming against Liechtenstein.

FULL TIME: Gibraltar 0-2 Scotland. England aren’t the only home nation warming up for Euro 2024. Scotland are preparing for Germany too, in more ways than one, and this afternoon they’ve started that process by beating Gibraltar 2-0 in the Algarve. Ryan Christie opened the scoring on the hour, and Che Adams added the second with five minutes left on the clock. Almost the perfect result for Steve Clarke’s side, as it breaks a seven-game winless run that stretched all the way back to last September, while adding nothing whatsoever in the form of hope or expectation. The sort of stuff that can addle the mind. Mess you up.

The England team has been announced, and as expected it’s an experimental one. Cole Palmer and Eberechi Eze make their first starts, while Trent Alexander-Arnold gets another run-out in midfield, and Ollie Watkins leads the line. With Harry Kane resting up on the bench, Toon hero Kieran Trippier is captain for the evening.