Soccer-England Held To Scrappy Draw In North Macedonianewsbhunt

SKOPJE: England suffered a frustrating conclusion to their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign as they were held to a scrappy 1-1 draw by North Macedonia in Group C on Monday.

With qualification long since secured and just a draw needed to seal a top seeding for next year’s finals, England trailed to Enis Bardhi’s 41st-minute rebound effort after his penalty was saved.

Gareth Southgate’s group winners hogged possession but lacked fluency and invention against dogged hosts and needed an own goal by Jani Atanasov to get them level on the hour.

Jack Grealish had earlier seen a goal ruled out while teenager Rico Lewis had a debut he will want to forget after harshly being penalised for North Macedonia’s penalty.

England ended the calendar year unbeaten, if in a rather under-whelming way, topping their group with 20 points from eight games with North Macedonia fourth.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – Reuters)