IT was the sort of thing you would expect to see in the streets of Middlesbrough, or of course any English town, outside a kebab shop on a Friday night.
Tyrone Mings stood his ground and as another bloke approached – in this case Sasa Kalajdzic – a brutal forearm smash was unleashed.
So the fact Mings delivered this unprovoked attack during an international is not only staggering but, as England prepare for the start of Euro 2020 without Harry Maguire, extremely worrying.
Had this been against Croatia on June 13, with less then ten minutes gone, England would have been reduced to ten men.
Croatia would have had a penalty. With a one-man advantage for virtually the entire game, they would have won.
Mings was lucky his jab on the Austrian striker, who unsurprisingly collapsed onto the ground, was missed by Belgian referee Lawrence Visser and he will not face retrospective action.
But had it been during the Euros, VAR would have spotted it.
And that is why the currently sidelined Maguire will be sorely missed in what is certainly Gareth Southgate’s biggest Euro headache.
Anyone who thinks England will breeze their way to the semi-finals of Euro 2020 at Wembley is delusional.
Mings’ central defensive partner against Austria was Conor Coady and while he is also a solid player for Wolves, this is not a pairing which would take a team deep into a major tournament.
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And even when Mings was replaced by new boy Ben Godfrey, the Everton defender nearly scored an own goal with his first touch in international football.
At least John Stones, still on a short post-Champions League final break, will return to the heart of defence.
If Southgate decides to play a three-man back line, then both Kyle Walker and also Reece James can fill in.
Yet ultimately, the only central defenders Southgate trusts in a back four are Stones and Maguire.
And with Manchester United captain Maguire still unable to kick a ball following his ankle injury, the fear is Mings’ suicidal challenge and Godfrey’s terrible back pass to Jordan Pickford will not be the last defensive mishaps this summer.
At least we have loads of right-backs though.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, having squeezed into Southgate’s 26-man squad, was actually making only his 13th appearance for the country.
After all of the furore over his omission for the World Cup qualifiers, you would have thought he had picked up a half century of caps.
He was not tested much defensively, should have scored with the first chance of the game and then sent a free-kick against the visiting wall.
Southgate revealed pre-match that he may still give Alexander-Arnold a few minutes in midfield, so this would have to come against Romania back here in Middlesbrough on Sunday.
But at this stage of a campaign, just days away from the start of a major tournament, it would be a silly decision.
A bit like sticking Harry Kane on corners during Euro 2016. And we all remember what happened in that tournament.
For England to do better at Euro 2020 than in France, they must be far more solid defensively but the signs do not look promising.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
