England, Germany play to thrilling draw in Nations League

Late mistake by goalie Nick Pope allowed Germany to equalize and denied a dramatic win for England in the Uefa Nations League clash at Wembley.

In a game of varying fortunes, Germany appeared to be heading for victory after two careless errors from the unfortunate Harry Maguire gave Hansi Flick’s team the upper hand.

England had a catastrophic 2022-2023 Nations League A campaign and had already been demoted to League B.

The finest opportunity for Germany before halftime came from a shot by Joshua Kimmich late in the 0-0 first half that just missed the post. Marc-Andre Ter Stegen denied Raheem Sterling on a fantastic scoring opportunity for England in the 25th minute.

Then, Ilkay Gundogan converted a penalty opportunity in the 52nd minute, and then Kai Havertz scored on a shot from outside the area in the 67th minute that expertly curled inside the top left part of the goal past goalkeeper Nick Pope, England appeared headed for their fourth loss in six Nations League games going back to June 4.

For England head coach Gareth Southgate and his players, another defeat would have made for a very long lead-up to the World Cup, which gets under way on Nov. 20 in Qatar.

Instead, the English side broke out of a three-and-a-half-game scoring drought in style with three goals in a span of 12 minutes.

Defender Luke Shaw got things started by scoring off a cross by Declan Rice in the 72nd minute before Mason Mount’s first-touch shot knotted the contest at 2-2 three minutes later.

English captain Harry Kane then thrilled the crowd when he scored on a penalty kick to give the English side their first lead of the game in the 83rd minute.

Nevertheless, there was still time for one more dramatic turn in the second half, and it occurred in the 87th minute when English goalkeeper Nick Pope failed to stop a long-range attempt by Serge Gnabry, allowing Havertz to seize the opportunity and score from close range.

In the 90th minute, England had one final chance, but Bukayo Saka was stopped by a magnificent save from Ter Stegen.