England 1 Denmark 0: England win offers little hope ahead of World Cup

Daniel Sturridge may have spared the Three Lions’ blushes last night with a winner eight minutes from time against a Denmark side who failed to even qualify for this summer’s finals.

But, make no mistake, there was precious little in how Roy Hodgson’s side performed to suggest that Italy should be in any way concerned ahead of the June 14 opener in Manaus.

Instead, the manner in which the hosts laboured for much of the evening against average opposition suggests that it won’t just be the humid conditions getting England fans hot under the collar in Brazil.

Wayne Rooney, whose last telling contribution to a major tournament came as a teenager in Euro 2004, was largely anonymous, as, once again on the international stage, was Jack Wilshere.

Jordan Henderson was marginally better but, considering only a couple of last night’s XI will not fancy their chances of starting the Italy game in a little over three months, the chances of England proving the bookmakers wrong by making an impact in Brazil seem slim.

There were plus points with substitute Danny Welbeck twice being unlucky not to find the net before Sturridge finally broke former Leeds United goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel’s resistance.

Raheem Sterling also looked lively at times, while Adam Lallana must surely have clinched his place on the plane to South America with another impressive shift from the bench.

Lallana’s Southampton team-mate Luke Shaw looked composed on his England debut, too, with the teenager’s second-half display being every bit as good as that of the man he wants to depose, Ashley Cole.

Those apart, however, perhaps the best thing that can be said about Hodgson’s men last night was that they kept going to the end. Plenty, therefore, for sports psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters to do in the next few months if England are not to flop at a major tournament once again.

On the evidence of the final friendly before Hodgson names his provisional 30-man squad for the World Cup on May 13, coaxing gold out of Team GB’s cyclists and inspiring Ronnie O’Sullivan to glory in snooker will seem a cakewalk in comparison to eliciting the necessary improvement out of the Three Lions.

A huge problem against the limited Danes was Hodgson handing his front three of Rooney, Sterling and Strurridge licence to roam wherever they wanted.

For the first hour, this left England looking confused with Sturridge, so successful for Liverpool when playing through the middle, found far too often out wide.

The upshot was a disjointed first-half display from the hosts, who only started to threaten in the closing stages when Schmeichel had to react smartly to block a Sturridge shot and Sterling fluffed a simple opportunity to tap in an Ashley Cole cross under pressure from Lars Jacobsen.

At the other end, Denmark also had a couple of chances in a largely forgettable opening 45 minutes.

First, Michael Krohn-Dehli volleyed over after Casper Sloth had sprung the home side’s offside trap down the right flank.

Then, as England hesitated at the back, neat play saw Krohn-Dehli nip to the by-line before pulling the ball back for what he hoped would be a red shirt but was instead Chris Smalling.

Joe Hart’s first save of the night came on 65 minutes when Morten Rasmussen was played through by a fortunate ricochet and the Manchester City goalkeeper brilliantly spread himself to block the substitute’s goalbound effort.

By then, Rooney had been replaced by Welbeck and that, at least, brought some much-needed attacking threat to England.

The Manchester United striker was unfortunate to twice be denied by Schmeichel in quick succession after smart play had finally opened up the visitors.

Schmeichel then kept out a stinging Sturridge shot with a fine reaction save and that appeared to be that.

However, just as England looked like failing to score for the third consecutive home game – something that had last happened in 1981 – the deadlock was finally broken.

A left wing cross was the catalyst, as Lallana – whose arrival alongside Welbeck had helped kick-start the home side – picked out Sturridge brilliantly and the Liverpool man did the rest with a fine back-post header.

It was enough to send the crowd of 68,573 crowd home happy. Sadly from an English perspective, any Italian scouts inside Wembley will also have headed out into the London night in content mood as they look ahead to the World Cup opener.

Hodgson said: “It was a very organised Danish team and we had to work very hard. Kasper Schmeichel had an outstanding game in goal. From the 60th minute onwards we showed some really good play and Adam Lallana made a big difference.”

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England: Hart; Johnson, Cahill, Smalling, Cole (Shaw 46); Henderson (Oxlade-Chamberlain 77), Gerrard; Sterling (Townsend 86), Wilshere (Lallana 58), Rooney (Welbeck 60); Sturridge (Milner 88). Unused substitutes: Foster, Baines, Caulker, Carrick, Lambert, Lampard, Barkley, Cleverley, Ruddy, Forster, Defoe, Rodriguez.

Denmark: Schmeichel; Jacobsen (Juelsgard 46), Ankersen, Agger, Kjaer (Bjelland 63); Kvist; Larsen (Kusk 46), Sloth (Zimling 62), Poulsen (Olsen 80), Krohn-Dehli; Bendtner (Rasmussen 63). Unused substitutes: Kahlenberg, Andersen, Delaney, Ankersen, Lossl, Makienok.

Referee: K Blom (Holland).