England made to wait for knockouts with draw against Danes
Denmark's Morten Hjulmand scores the equaliser
It would not be a major tournament without England shooting themselves in the foot at some point, and Gareth Southgate's men duly delivered another underwhelming performance that gave more fuel to the fire of critics, as the Three Lions blew a golden chance to seal qualification for the knockout stages.
For the second game running Southgate's experiment with Trent Alexander-Arnold as a holding midfielder failed and the Liverpool man was substituted early in the second half, with Harry Kane, Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka also hooked long before the end of a dismal display.
Harldly anyone in an England shirt emerged with credit, but as poor as they were, Denmark deserve credit for a spirited Denmark, with Christian Eriksen and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg outstanding, controlling the game from midfield against opponents billed as among the world's best.
Jude Bellingham could not reproduce the star-studded performance of last Sunday, Declan Rice kept losing possession, and Foden was nothing like the player who was rightly voted Footballer of the Year.
At least – and at last – Kane scored, pouncing in the 18th minute to put England ahead, but then lost possession 16 minutes later to let in Morten Hjulmand for a spectacular equaliser.
“Clearly it wasn't what we would've hoped,” said Southgate. “We're not using the ball well enough and have to accept if you do that you're going to suffer at times as we have tonight. We know there's another level we're going to have to find.
"We've played teams who are quite fluid in back threes, it's not easy to get pressure on them, but we've definitely got to do it better than we have in these two matches.” England went into the game knowing victory would have guaranteed qualification as group leaders, but now they face Slovenia next Tuesday's final game knowing they could end up in third place if results go against them.
It looked like Southgate failed to learn a lesson when he decided to stick with Alexander-Arnold in an unchanged line-up. The Liverpool right-back had been press-ganged unto a midfield role to add creativity, but it did not work against Serbia and nor here in Frankfurt. Alexander-Arnold's biggest strength is his crossing and passing ability, but he is not suited to a more central role and gave the ball away three times in the early stages, while offering little in terms of creativity.
By contrast Christian Eriksen was showing England what they need, a clever, calm playmaker who can find pockets of space, spot openings and deliver the ball with pinpoint precision.
Even so England started brightly and taken the lead when Kane put England ahead after a dreadful mistake from Viktor Kristianson. The Dane dawdled on the ball wide on the left, not seeing the danger as Kyle Walker appeared from nowhere to take it off his toes. Walker raced to the byline, and though his cutback was imprecise, the ball squirmed through for Kane to steer it past Kasper Schmeichel with a low shot from close range.
It was a goal out of nothing, but the result of a defensive mistake rather than clever attacking play, and so was Denmark's equaliser. With England's defence being pinned back and unable to play through the Danish press, Kane dropped deep in a bid to help out, but his attempted clearance ran into no-man's land, and when the ball was relayed to Hjulmand, he hit a rasping shot from 35 yards that flew through a cluster of players, hit the inside of the far post, and nestled in the net.
It was no more than Denmark deserved and they took control for the remainder of the half, with England looking increasingly desperate.
Southgate waited until ten minutes into the second to make the expected change, replacing Alexander-Arnold with the more combative Conor Gallagher. England immediately looked better, and Foden rattled a shot against the base of the post, with Saka scooping the rebound over the bar.
Saka had another chance when he was put in by Kane's clever crossfield pass, but the Arsenal man shot wide of the far post.
It was to be the pair's final involvement, as Southgate then removed them and Foden in a brutal cull with 20 minutes.
Ollie Watkins, Kane's replacement, immediately looked more dangerous and went close twice. But England continued to create clear openings, while making defensive mistakes to give Denmark hope.
Long before the final whistle it was clear England were going to have to settle for a point, and now face a nervy game against unbeaten Slovenia in Cologne next Tuesday.
It is unlikely Alexander-Arnold will feature. "Trent has had some moments where he's delivered what we thought he would,” added the manager.
"It's an experiment, we know we don't have a natural replacement for Kalvin Phillips but we're trying some different things - and at the moment we're not flowing as we'd like.
"We needed energy, we've had two games in a short turnaround. We needed fresh legs, energy to press, and at that stage of the game Harry Kane has only had the one 90 minutes in over a month, so that was the decision we took.
"There's a huge amount of work, that's evident from the performances we've given. We have to stay tight, we understand people will be disappointed with the performances - and rightly so. We've got to make them better."
Schmeichel 7; Andersen 7, Christensen 7, Vestergaard 6; Maele 6, Hjulmand 7 (Norgaard 82), Hojbjerg 8, Kristiansen 5 (Damsgaard 57); Eriksen 8 (Olsen 82) ; Hojlund 6 (Poulsen 67), Wind 6 (Bah 67)Â
Pickford 6; Walker 6, Stones 6, Guehi 6, Trippier 6; Alexander-Arnold 5 (Gallagher 54), Rice 6; Saka 6 (Bowen 69), Bellingham 6, Foden 6 (Eze 69); Kane 6 (Watkins 69).
Artur Soares Dias (Portugal) 8.
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