England ended their European Championship qualifying campaign with a 1-1 draw in North Macedonia on Monday, but captain Harry Kane said they had much to be proud of after topping their group and finished six points ahead of Italy.
England had qualified for the final phase of the World Cup in Germany with two days remaining, and Monday’s draw allowed them to emerge from Group C undefeated.
Gareth Southgate’s side fell behind in Skopje after debutant Rico Lewis was penalized for a foul in the penalty area and Enis Bardhi scored after his penalty was saved. They came back to score in the second half thanks to an own goal from Jani Atanasov.
“We knew it would be a difficult game and it was difficult against a decent team who were playing on a pitch where it is difficult to play our style of football. If anyone was going to score a second goal, it was us. We can be very proud of the way the qualifying campaign went,” Kane, who came on as a second-half substitute, told Channel 4.