Most of the focus, post match, was on the hug. And in fairness, the hug was pretty funny. England will be happy enough with a forgettable night in Wroclaw: a point gained, the avoidance of injury, and a step closer to next summer’s low‑carbon tour of Germany, the first Euros to be scheduled in a way that minimises rather than maximises travel, a mild correction after the Platini-led cheap-flight madness of Everywhere 2020.
There weren’t many highlights, or anything much to mark an evening characterised by a strange slackness at the heart of Gareth Southgate’s team. But the hug was one of them. It came just before Ukraine’s goal, product of a surgical counterattack down the left. As Yukhym Konoplya crossed, every England player seemed to be in a state of flux, spinning and twirling, looking for traction.Harry Maguire chose to make a run into the same space as Marc Guéhi and in the process ended up embracing his defensive partner, arms wrapped tenderly around Guéhi’s torso, as behind them Oleksandr Zinchenko pinched the ball off the boot of Mykhailo Mudryk (generally speaking, a good option) and tucked the ball into the England net.
