Soccer-England and Germany sign off with 3-3 Nations League thriller

When Bellingham was brought down and Kane smashed his spot kick high past Ter Stegen England fans were in party mode, but Havertz sobered things up by capitalising on a late gift as keeper Pope fumbled a shot by Serge Gnabry.

England will head to the World Cup on the back of a six-match winless sequence but with at least some pride and confidence restored after a thrilling 3-3 draw at home to Germany in the Nations League on Monday. Southgate's listless side trailed 2-0 to Ilkay Gundogan's penalty and a superb effort by Kai Havertz with less than 20 minutes remaining and boos beginning to resound at Wembley in their final Group A3 match.

But they responded in thrilling fashion with goals by Luke Shaw and Mason Mount in the space of four minutes drawing them level -- England's first goals from open play in 5-1/2 competitive matches. Harry Kane's 83rd minute penalty after a lunging foul by Nico Schlotterbeck on Jude Bellingham then appeared to have given England a morale-boosting victory.

But Germany, themselves in a poor run of form heading to Qatar, were not finished and Havertz capitalised on a goalkeeping error by Nick Pope to grab an 87th minute leveller. Substitute Bukayo Saka almost won it for England late on as the fans were left scratching their heads at why the hosts had taken so long to release the handbrake that stifled their play.

They finished bottom of the group with three points behind Germany on seven, Hungary with 10 and Italy, who topped the group on 11 points to reach the Nations League final four. It is more than 100 years since England last went six competitive games without a victory, but they at least changed the narrative with a stirring comeback against Germany.

Both sides needed a pre-World Cup tonic after poor Nations League campaigns with England suffering the ignominy of relegation after losing 1-0 away to Italylast Friday, the same night Germany lost by that scoreline at home to Hungary. The last time the two heavyweights met at Wembley, in last year's Euro 2020 finals, England were riding a wave of euphoria and manager Gareth Southgate could do no wrong.

But the mood has turned sour mainly because of a woeful lack of goals -- Kane's last-minute penalty in Germany being their only goal in their previous five Nations League games. TWO CHANCES

A lacklustre first 45 minutes underlined England's problems although Raheem Sterling did have two chances - first when he was played in by Shaw to force a fine save from Marc-Andre ter Stegen and then shooting tamely shortly before halftime. Germany were equally bereft of attacking spark but were gifted an early chance when Pope's nervy clearance was charged down and Gundogan curled the ball over the bar.

Germany manager Hansi Flick sent on forward Timo Werner to partner his former Chelsea team mate Kai Havertz for the second half and the visitors went ahead in the 52nd minute with a goal that summed up England defender Harry Maguire's recent woes. Having given the ball away to Jamal Musiala, Maguire tried to win it back but hacked down Musiala and a penalty was eventually awarded after a VAR intervention.

Gundogan coolly slid the spot kick into the corner and it soon got even worse for England when Werner switched play to his Havertz after a counter-attack and he curled a beauty past Pope. With the crowd making their feelings clear, Southgate's side needed a quick response and got it in incredible fashion

First Shaw was found at the back post by a Reece James cross and squeezed his shot through Ter Stegen. Then, like London buses, another goal arrived.

This time England's substitutes Saka and Mount combined on the right and Mount smashed a first-time shot into the net. When Bellingham was brought down and Kane smashed his spot kick high past Ter Stegen England fans were in party mode, but Havertz sobered things up by capitalising on a late gift as keeper Pope fumbled a shot by Serge Gnabry.

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