Match report and reaction
Here’s Daniel Taylor’s match report:
Here’s Dom Fifield with five talking points from the game:
And here’s Rob Bleaney’s player ratings:
Roy Hodgson is on TV now, talking about a match that happened in his head recently: “I’m not so sure that I have to accept we didn’t play well. I thought in the second half we did play well ... Our composure throughout the game was good ... we would have preferred to play against 11 men .. against 10 we had to play a different type of game. But there were a lot of positives as far as I’m concerned.”
Full-time: England 1-0 Portugal
It was ghastly viewing but England won and avoided serious injury. That’s it for the positives. The dreariness of most of the play against 10 men and, most of all, the fact that Kane and Vardy looked ill at ease in positions that they were played in to accommodate an ineffective Rooney can only have reassured Russia, Wales and Slovakia.
90+2 min: Quaresma floats a humdrum freekick from the right all the way over to the back post, where Carvalho finds space, but heads way over.
90 min: There will be at least three more minutes of this. That;s a dreadful decision by the ref.
Portugal substitution: Eder on for R Carvalho
England substitution: Henderson on for Alli.
89 min: That goal should not deflect attention from the fact that England would be better served taking Andros Townsend to the Euros than Wayne Rooney. Really.
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GOAL! England 1-0 Portugal (Smalling 86)
It’s a fine header by Smalling, who got up high and guided the ball into the net from six yards from a Sterling cross! Hodgson has enough self-awareness not to smile.
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85 min: Rui Patricio comes off his line to punch clear a freekick by Walker. “England were as stiff as a frozen cat until the subs came on,” miaows Hobert O’Hearn.
83 min: That’s better! Lallana raises the tempo and danger levels with a quick cross into the box. Then he pounces on the clearance, dodges one tackle in the box and knocks the ball back to Sterling near the penalty spot. The winger keeps possession while looking for options, then offloads to Sturridge, who tries to make space for a shot. It doesn’t quite come off but Portugal were in a real panic for the first time since being reduced to 10 men about 50 minutes ago. The subs have made a difference for England.
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82 min: Sturridge’s second involvement is a snapshot on the turn from 25 yards. A respectable effort that wobbles a couple of yards wide.
80 min: Sturridge’s first involvement is to mis-control a clipped pass by Sterling. They’re not the same without Brendan Rodgers.
England substitutions: Sturridge and Lallana on for Rooney and Kane.
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76 min: Eliseu booked for taking down Rooney mid-way inside the Portuguese half as England start to stretch Portugal a tad. Wilshere has made a difference, injecting a dash of initiative and thrust.
75 min: Renato Sanchez? Totally over-rated, can’t understand why Bayern Munich have just spent many millions on him. Rose has just skipped by him down the left and fired in a dangerous low cross that Carvalho did well to block.
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73 min: Sanchez shows why Bayern Munich have just spent many millions on him, effortlessly holding off Rooney and Sterling as he bounds his way towards the English half. Sterling eventually resorts to a foul to stop him.
Portugal substitutions: Renato Sanchez and William Carvalho on for Adrien and Moutinho.
70 min: Dier pings a pass in to Wilshere, who traps it nicely and then turns nimbly past Moutinho and tries to slide the ball through to Kane. It didn’t come off but was an improvement on most of what’s gone before.
68 min: Rooney skitters down the left, then cuts back and floats in a decent cross. Fonte heads clear.
England substitutions: Sterling and Wilshere on for Vardy and Milner. Let’s see what difference this makes.
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66 min: Kane clips the freekick towards the edge of the six-yard box. Smalling heads it into the air, then Cahill leaps well to head it goalward. It’s blocked by a defender. And the ref awards a free out for a foul.
65 min: Walker, England’s playmaker, takes Portugal by surprise with a burst down the right, and is brought down by Andre Gomes. Kane will take the freekick to the right of the area, a few yards in from the corner flag....
63 min: Dier tries to liven things up with a dipping curler from 30 yards. The keeper is grateful for a chance to warm himself up.
Portugal substitution: Nani off, Quaresma on. Hodgson maintaining a stiff upper lip.
60 min: Hodgson and Neville are standing on the sideline, locked in important-looking discussions. The upshot is, it’ll be shepherds’s pie for dinner.
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58 min: The Wembley crowd are doing Mexican waves. They’d be doing tequila shots by now if they were allowed.
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55 min: There’s nothing happening here for England. Nobody is showing any initiative. They’ve lapsed into depressing passivity, maybe confusion too. Against 10 men! Its quite a feat to wrench embarrassment from a meaningless match, but that’s what they’re doing. Not sure what Hodgson is doing, but there’s no sign of a change yet. For a start, Rooney needs to be taken off and kept off, to be frank.
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@Paul_Doyle Most talent I've seen in an England side in 20 years - and on attack looks like the worst of Don Fabio's years. Nicely done Roy!
— Hubert O'Hearn (@BTBReviews) June 2, 2016
52 min: It’s all Portugal. Smalling does well to head a corner clear under pressure from Carvalho.
50 min: All I’m saying is that if Roy Keane were in Gary Neville’s position, England players would be fearing for their lives right now.
48 min: Portugal are intent on keeping the ball and seeing out the match safely with 10 men. England appear to have no clue what to do about that.
47 min: You can always rely on Rob Smyth to put things in the right perspective. “This is how the ref should have reacted to that challenge by Bruno Alves,” trumpets Smyth before directing us to this choice footage:
46 min: England kick off. That’s one pass completed, right there.
Portugal substitution: Andre Gomes on for Joao Mario.
“Rooney’s in all of Alli’s space,” spews Steve Waterhouse. “And he’s doing nothing with it.” That’s largely true, and none of the midfielders have been any better. Danny Drinkwater must be feeling hard one by: you’d fancy him to have given Vardy at least a couple of decent passes by now.
Bruno Alves update: For those of you asking, no: the red card does not automatically carry a suspension for the first Euro match. However, if Uefa feel it was exceptionally violent, they may choose to impose a ban. Lucky for Bruno Alves that Kane didn’t do a Pepe and roll around for 45 minutes after an actual foul
Half-time: England 0-0 Portgual
Entertainment: 0 of 10, or 1 if you found Bruno Alves’ idiocy hilarious.
Educational value: not much there either. The full-backs have been decent going forward. The strikers have been rubbish going backwards. And do you really want Vardy and Kane to be going backwards so much? You can understand the game being played at a very low pace before a big tournament, and maybe you can even forgive sloppy passing from players whose minds are mostly focused on avoiding injury, but England should not look as muddled as this. Anyone would think a conservative manager has been given a squad heavily weighted towards attacking talent and doesn’t know what to do with it.
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42 min: Cahill booked for his second oafish tackle of the game. This time he swept Nani legs from under him from behind. Pretty sloppy to have picked up a yellow card in such a low-intensity game, Bruno Alves’ berserkness notwithstanding.
39 min: Vardy hurtles down the left, where he’s spent most of the game. He feeds Rooney, who plays it on to Kane, coming on from the right. The striker sends a middling low shot towards goal, but Rui Patricio saves easily.
Portugal substitution: Southampton’s Jose Fonte replcaes Rafa as Portugual try to shore up their defence in preparation of nearly an hour with 10 men.
Red card for Bruno Alves!
What a reckless tackle by the Portuguese centreback! And what a barmy thing to do on the eve of a major tournament! He had no chance of winning the ball as it bounced towards Kane near half-way, but he lifted one leg high into the air and lunged for it anyway, catching Kane flush in the face!
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34 min: Eliseu again finds space wide on the left - England’s full-backs are getting little defensive help - and he curls in a decent cross. Joao Mario arrives at speed but donks his header way over the bar.
32 min: England’s attacking full-backs have been the brightest part of their play so far. Rose flew down the left and delivered a decent ball across the edge of the area. Rooney helped it on. Walker arrived from the right and cracked a fine shot just wide!
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30 min: I’ll be honest, I’m not entirely sure what this England team are all about. Has this manager really been in charge for four years?
28 min: Vardy tracks back down the left and he makes a daft tackle on an opponent to concede a freekick. An opportunity for Moutinho to send over a cross. Which he does. Carvalho got to it before Kane but failed to guide his 12-yard header anywhere near the target.
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27 min: Formation update: it’s been looking more like a 4-3-3 in the last while. But it changes depending on who has the ball and where. Weird, huh?
25 min: Another slack ball out from the back by Portugal - this time by Adrian - gives Walker a chance to gallop down the right again. His cross is put out for a corner, which is abysmally delivered by Kane.
23 min: That’s better! Walkers was allowed to saunter forward down the right and pick out a nicely-flighted ball towards the back post. Rooney met it and directed a header on target, but without enough power to worry Rui Patricio.
22 min: If this match doesn’t perk up soon, fans would be well advised to leave Wembley to watch the traffic, never mind beating it.
19 min: Good defending by Rose, who tracked Joao Mario’s run into the box and made sure he got to Eliseu’s cross before the forward did, then cleared it out for a throw-in.
16 min: Rose finds Alli down the left again. It briefly looks like the Spurs man will get behind Carvahlo, but the veteran uses all his wiles to close the gap and then kick the ball out off Alli for a goal kick. He then gives Alli a little shove and the youngster responds with a stronger one, which is no doubt exactly what Carvahlo intended. Gotta love Alli’s willingness to stand up for himself, but he could do with being more canny about it in these sanitised times.
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14 min: Formation fans will be interested to note that England are closer to a 4-2-3-1 than a 4-3-3 or indeed a 7-1-1-1. Milner and Dier are sitting. Hart is spectating.
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11 min: Walker intercepts an absurdly casual clearance from Rui Patricio and pops the ball quickly infield to Kane. The Spurs striker has all the time he needs to amble towards the box while surveying his options, then he curls a low ball through to Rooney, who pokes it goalward from 10 yards. Patricio atones for his error by making an excellent reflex stop ... but it wouldn’t have counted, as Rooney was offside. A diverting bit of action, all the same.
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9 min: Alli drifts wide to the left to collect an easy pass from Rose. Alli skips past one opponent before Vierinha scurries across to slide the ball out of play for a throw-in.
6 min: The Portuguese centrebacks, Bruno Alves and the venerable RIcardo Carvahlo, have seen more of the ball than anyone else so far, stroking it about at the back with the unhurried ease of two old men tossing bread to pigeons in a town square.
4 min: Early minutes and all, but this is very low key so far. Anyone would think this was a friendly just before the start of a major tournament and players were more interested in avoiding injury than setting the world alight with dazzling skills or needless running. Cahill’s early clumping off Rafa won’t have done much to change that.
2 min: An early worry for Portugal: Cahill got Rafa late and the midfielder needs to lie down for a good rub of the shin. Nothing too serious, happily, and he’s soon back on his feet and the game can continue. “I see the doom-mongers are out in force already,” tolls Phil Sawyer. “Am I the only person quite excited to see how Roy’s All New Attacking England fare tonight? Well, at least until that suspect looking defence ships two early goals.” Here’s the thing to bear in mind: almost every country at the Euros have a dodgy defence, many of them much dodgier than England’s. So don’t get too hung up on it. It’s going to be helter-skelter type of tournament, I’m thinking.
1 min: Portugal kick off. It’s on!
Jose Mourinho is among the watching VIPs at Wembley. Thought I’d mention that in case you were in danger of going an hour with hearing his name mentioned.
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Evening all, and thanks to Niall McVeigh for while steering the MBM truck while I was trundling down the M1 back from Derby, where Nigel Pearson is about to bid his bid to be the manager to take England to the next World Cup. The current custodian of the three lions, meanwhile, has just been talking to ITV and this is what he said in response to the question as to whether the attacking trident of Vardy, Kane and Rooney are ready to do a Joey Tempest and rock Europe:
“We’ll find out tonight of course but there’s no reason why it shoudn’t. They know what we’re looking for from them and I’ve every reason to believe they’ll do well.
Asked whether this is the 11 that will start the opening group game against Russia, Hodgson said: “No, I”m not prepared to say that. We’ll see how these guys get on. By the end of this test I think I’ll have all the information I need to pick a team against Russia. “
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“My son is half Portuguese, half English. He tells me he’s supporting England, but only because Ronaldo isn’t playing. Do I disown him, or admire his honesty?” asks Tom Jayes.
I’ll let Paul Doyle field this one, and the match itself. Email paul.doyle@theguardian.com, tweet @Paul_Doyle.
Wayne Rooney is likely to start at the head of a midfield diamond, with Dier, Alli and Milner putting in some hard midfield yards. Here’s a couple more of your thoughts:
“Typical England. Nobody making the hard choices. Lets not choose between Vardy or Kane, Rooney or Alli. Instead, lets just plow them all into the starting 11 in the nearest available free position and hope for the best” says David Flynn.
“With the flair we have available these days its somewhat of a magic trick that Roy can manage to pick a team that can leave me so unenthused about the coming tournament” says Ben Wilkinson.
Not exactly ringing endorsements.
“What happened to Mr Roy’s 23rd player?” asks the eagle-eyed Raymond Reardon. It’s Ryan Bertrand, who isn’t available tonight due to a mysterious ‘minor knock’.
There’s a more conspicuous absence from the Portugal squad, notes Justin Kavanagh:
“A Portuguese woman once described the Portuguese music of Fado to me as ‘the presence of an absence.’ Roy Hodgson will know that feeling tonight, I’m sure, as he looks out at that Ronaldo-shaped hole, where Gareth Bale will be tormenting England in a couple of weeks time.”
Ten changes from last Friday’s win over Australia, with Chris Smalling the only name on both team sheets. Wayne Rooney, Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy start together for England for the first time. Is this Roy’s team to take on Russia? Thoughts welcome. Drop me a line at niall.mcveigh.casual@theguardian.com or @niallmcveigh.
Team news!
England: Hart; Walker, Cahill, Smalling, Rose; Dier, Alli, Milner; Rooney, Kane, Vardy.
Subs: Forster, Sterling, Lallana, Clyne, Henderson, Sturridge, Stones, Wilshere, Barkley, Rashford, Heaton.
Portugal: Rui Patricio; Vieirinha, Bruno Alves, Carvalho, Eliseu; João Mário, Danilo Pereira, Adrien Silva, João Moutinho; Nani, Rafa.
Subs: Lopes, Fonte, Guerreiro, Eder, William Carvalho, Andre Gomes, Renato Sanches, Quaresma, Cedric, Eduardo.
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Hello. Paul will be along shortly; until then, catch up on the news that Roy Hodgson’s plan to use Cristiano Ronaldo as preparation for facing Gareth Bale has backfired spectacularly.
Ronaldo isn’t playing tonight, but will be in France hoping to score some more decisive penalties. You can read more on Portugal, and indeed every other team, in our interactive guide to every player at the tournament, and plan your viewing with our interactive wallchart.
This is England’s first game since their 23 was announced; you can read more about them here, with Dominic Fifield’s handy guide. Or, if England are a bit too mainstream for you, there’s features on Albania and Romania live on our Euro 2016 Experts’ Network.
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