(VIDEO) Where is Kane? England are making fools of themselves vs North Macedonia

The England National Team already secured their place in Euro 2024. They showed great performances in their first 7 games in group C of the qualifiers and, with 6 wins and a draw, they took the first place in the standings. That is why they went into Monday's match under no pressure: they have already achieved their goal of qualifying for the continent's most important tournament to be played next year in Germany.

This made coach Gareth Southgate decide to make changes in the starting lineup to rest some players and also allow others to have the opportunity to play. For example, Manchester City defender Rico Lewis got his first chance with The Three Lions. And also Ollie Watkins: the Aston Villa striker is part of the team replacing Harry Kane, who is on the bench.

But these decisions have not paid off so far. During the first half, North Macedonia proved to be a solid team with quality. They controlled the ball during some moments of the match and prevented the English from creating scoring opportunities.

And not only that. After 40 minutes the VAR indicated to the referee that there had been a foul inside the box by Rico Lewis, and Glova gave the home side a penalty. Enis Bardhi, one of the Macedonian stars, took the spot kick. Jordan Pickford guessed the opponent's intention and saved the shot, but couldn't prevent Bardhi from capturing the rebound and scoring the opener.

They need changes

Perhaps in the second half Gareth Southgate will decide to include in the team some of the stars who are on the bench, hoping that they can lead the team to a comeback. The substitutes are Sam Johnstone, Aaron Ramsdale, Fikayo Tomori, Ezri Konsa, Cole Palmer, Jordan Henderson, Conor Gallagher, Kalvin Phillips, Marcus Rashford and Harry Kane.