England lost points for the first time in the Euro 2024 football qualifiers. In Wroclaw, Poland, Gareth Southgate's men drew 1-1 with Ukraine. After the game, midfielder Declan Rice, who played the full match, noted the level of the opponent.
Declan Rice. Photo: gettyimages.com"Actually, the Ukrainian team did not surprise me. Ukraine is a very good team, they showed it today: they played and defended well. Both in the match at Wembley and here.
It was hard at Wembley too. We won there, but we knew we had to give it our all. It was hard to win, but at least we got one point, which will help us qualify.
Ukraine defended well. Yes, we had the ball for most of the game, in the last games we controlled the ball and won 4-0 and 7-0. And we attacked very well, teams sat low against us. And today we didn't succeed, so we need to be better and prepare for the next match.
Am I satisfied with my performance? In principle, yes, it was a good match for me. It's very difficult when you come to play for the national team. Every time I got the ball, I tried to make the most of the situation and accelerate the attacks. So I will continue to play, but today's match against Ukraine was good for me," Rice said.
