England and Germany finish the Nations League with a 3-3

Despite a six-match losing streak, England will go to the World Cup with at least some pride and confidence after a thrilling 3-3 draw against Germany at home in the Nations League on Monday.

With less than 20 minutes left in their final Group A3 game, boos started to reverberate at Wembley as Gareth Southgate’s listless team fell behind 2-0 on an Ilkay Gundogan penalty and a brilliant effort by Kai Havertz.

But they came back in exciting fashion, scoring two goals in the space of four minutes, one each from Mason Mount and Luke Shaw, to tie the game—the first open-play goals for England in five and a half competitive games.

Then, it appeared that Harry Kane’s 83rd-minute penalty had given Southgate’s team a victory that would raise their spirits.

But four-time world champions Germany, who were also having a rough time travelling to Qatar, managed to salvage a draw when Havertz took advantage of a Nick Pope mistake in goal in the 87th minute.

Late in the game, substitute Bukayo Saka nearly gave England the victory as the crowd pondered why it had taken the hosts so long to allow any kind of free play.

With three points less than Germany, Hungary, and Italy, who finished first in the group and advanced to the Nations League final four, England came in last place in the group.

The previous time England lost six consecutive competitive games was more than a century ago, but their inspiring comeback victory over Germany at least altered the narrative.

“The boys have been under pressure with recent results and we all came out here with a point to prove,” Kane said.

“There are lessons we can still learn from the mistakes we made but we scored three goals and I feel like this will put us in a positive mindset ahead of the World Cup.”