‘It will benefit us’ – England manager Gareth Southgate optimistic despite Germany draw in Nations League

England were 2-0 down at one point but rallied to 3-2 ahead with a late Harry Kane penalty.

Chelsea’s Kai Havertz struck with his second goal to rescue a point, and England finished their Nations League campaign bottom of the group.

Nevertheless, England manager Southgate reflected on the game positively, telling ITV: “It has been a tough period for the team but they have grown.

“To an extent we are always going to face pressure so we need to be exposed to pressure. We played a friendly against Ivory Coast in March and they went to 10 men and it became a non-event and we learnt nothing. This week we’ve learnt a huge amount. They’ve had to step forward and come together – it will benefit us in the long run.

“Tonight, in the end, a couple of errors have cost us the goals but I’ll focus on the fact they played with tremendous spirit and showed a belief that we haven’t shown in the last few games. I thought the crowd saw that and rose to that.”

Goalscorer Kane, whose late penalty almost won the match for England, was proud to come back from 2-0 down.

“It was a lot better. I thought we played really well today, we were unfortunate to go 2-0 behind, it was a mistake and then a great goal from the edge of the box,” he said.

“We did really well to stay in the game, to get back into it, get into the lead and then unfortunately another error. The mentality and fight of the team was shown out there today. We didn’t get the win but we can be proud of what we did and it puts us in a good place ahead of the World Cup.

“It was nice to score obviously. There always seems to be a few pressure penalties here at Wembley but it was nice to see that one go in and just a shame we couldn’t get the win but we keep going.

“I am proud of the boys and now we have a busy six weeks or so before we get ready for the World Cup.”

England play Iran in their World Cup opener on November 21. They then face USA and Wales in their group.