In his 77th appearance for England, Kyle Walker scored his first goal for his country, keeping Gareth Southgate’s team on track to qualify for the summer’s Euros.
Just before halftime, when Oleksandr Zinchenko had given Ukraine an unexpected lead, the excellent Manchester City full-back equalized thanks to a magnificent assist from captain Harry Kane.
But because they lost their perfect record in this qualifying campaign, this was England’s most dismal performance since the World Cup group stage tie with the United States.
Kyle Walker rescued a draw for England against Ukraine
Oleksandr Zinchenko fired Ukraine into the lead
Zinchenko celebrates netting the opener
Walker netted an equaliser before half-time
The goal was Walker’s first ever for England
At the Tarczynski Arena in the Polish city of Ukraine, Southgate’s team lacked their customary flow and failed to generate enough clear-cut chances despite having a plethora of attacking players who were in excellent form.
Exiled from their war-torn home country, a fervent crowd of Ukrainian supporters cheered for Sergiy Rebrov’s team as they fiercely defended and were poised to launch a counterattack.
At the earliest, England will now have to wait until their match against Italy at Wembley next month before securing their place in the finals in Germany.
The Three Lions will now play an improved Scotland in a “friendly” at Hampden Park on Tuesday, and Steve Clarke’s Tartan Army won’t have much to worry about given this poor performance.
Kane, Jude Bellingham, Declan Rice, and Maddison are just a few of the players that Southgate might use.
His choice of Jordan Henderson, however, has generated the most controversy. Henderson’s transfer to Saudi Pro League team Al-Ettifaq has angered LGBT supporters and raised questions about his footballing prospects on the international stage.
The national flag of Ukraine was draped over the players during the anthems, and the thousands of Ukrainian fans who reside in Poland created an ecstatic scene prior to kickoff.
Early on, England completely dominated, led by Bellingham’s confidence and inventiveness, but they were unable to create a good scoring opportunity.
Bukayo Saka seemed to be hindered by an early blow, and Ukraine, who had confidently resisted, started to strengthen as an attacking force.
Jordan Henderson started for England in midfield
Jude Bellingham started the game with confidence
Before Ukraine took the lead after 26 minutes, the English defense had a few difficult moments.
their back row Yukhym Konoplia outran Ben Chilwell on the right before cutting back for Zinchenko to score, despite England’s midfield failing to intercept the Arsenal player’s move and Jordan Pickford diving the other way.
A renewed sense of urgency from England was sparked, but Henderson missed a shot and Southgate’s team started to become frustrated. Maddison was also punished for a foul on Illia Zabarnyi.
Bellingham’s diagonal pass split the Ukraine defense in two, but Maddison’s shaky first touch prevented her from taking advantage.
The atmosphere was electrifying, and England seemed to be fading. To balance things out, they needed something unusual, and that’s what they came up with.
Kane sank so far that he was standing on the side of the center circle, next to his central defenders, when he conjured a brilliant diagonal pass to Walker that was only 40 yards out.
The City defender broke his duck after 12 years of playing for their country’s national team by chesting down, shooting beyond Georgiy Bushchan, and surviving a VAR check for offside.
Following the break, a Walker cross was headed onto the roof of the net by Maguire, and a Henderson center sent Bushchan tumbling.
Harry Kane set up Walker’s goal
Walker finally netted for England on his 77th capC
However, a clumsy Bellingham pass gave Ukraine an opportunity, but Georgiy Sudakov missed the target with his attempt.
On a challenging playing surface, England had been battling to find their rhythm, but they found it when Maddison fed Kane, who held it up and slipped a through to Saka. The Arsenal player leathered a shot that Bushchan pushed over the bar.
Saka and Maddison traded passes as they snuck by a defender and attempted a shot, but it was blocked.
Midway through the second half, Southgate replaced Bellingham and Maddison, neither of whom had shown much promise, with Marcus Rashford and Phil Foden.
Gareth Southgate must not prepare his team to face Scotland
Bushchan deflected an angled drive from Rashford and later denied a close-range attempt from a lunging Maguire.
Walker completed a strong individual performance with a pair of strong late challenges to remove Mykhailo Mudryk as Ukraine threateningly broke.