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		</div><p>Chris Smalling sent England to Euro 2016 on the back of another win, but the late header could not mask an underwhelming display against Portugal.</p>
<p>The third and final preparation game was always likely to prove the toughest, but few expected a toothless and disjointed attack to be the main concern against the side eighth in the world.</p>
<p>England&#8217;s defence had been the overriding concern ahead of the Wembley encounter, but Roy Hodgson&#8217;s inability to effectively shoehorn the attacking triumvirate of Wayne Rooney, Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy into the same line-up was main issue in the 1-0 win against the 10 men of Portugal.</p>
<p>Smalling&#8217;s late header was one of few moments for the sell-out Wembley crowd to shout about, with Vardy and Kane struggling to make an impact either side of Rooney as the Three Lions lacked attacking coherence and edge.</p>
<p>Even the first-half sending off of Bruno Alves for a horrific high challenge on Kane did little to help on a night punctuated by poor passes and choices.</p>
<p>The struggles of Vardy, Rooney and Kane will dominate much of the post-match conversation, but at least England head into the Group B opener against Russia on the back of a win courtesy of Smalling&#8217;s first international goal.</p>
<p>It was an exciting end to a match that started slowly and continued in a similar vein.</p>
<p>Kane created the first chance of note after 11 minutes, only for a point-blank Rui Patricio save to deny a Rooney shot that would have been ruled out for offside anyway.</p>
<p>That was one of few moments of note in a tepid first half and at the other end James Milner was fortunate to send a wayward pass to Nani, with the unsurprisingly greedy attacker blazing well over from distance.</p>
<p>Danny Rose produced a timely challenge to stop a whipped Eliseu cross finding its intended target and Ricardo Carvalho headed over from a corner as Portugal looked to capitalise on England&#8217;s disjointed display, epitomised by striker Kane&#8217;s short corner straight to an opponent.</p>
<p>Rooney saw a header denied at the back post after a deep cross from man-of-the-match Kyle Walker, who came close to opening his account in style as a first-time strike flew inches wide.</p>
<p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/image-23.jpeg"><img src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/image-23.jpeg" alt="England Euro 2016 team vs Portugal" width="600" height="325" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-91486" /></a></p>
<p>The goal would not have disguised a difficult first-half display for England, though, and Hodgson was robbed of a chance to try to solve their attacking issues in the 36th minute.</p>
<p>Kane appeared little threat when challenging for the ball wide on the right, yet defender Alves inexplicably flew in with a head-high challenge that led referee Marco Guida to brandish a red card.</p>
<p>It was deserved punishment for a ridiculous challenge that all-but killed the match as a meaningful test, with Kane forcing Patricio into a save as Portugal attempted to regroup.</p>
<p>When they re-emerged for the second period the visitors had shored things up at the back and England were struggling find a way through the lines.</p>
<p>It took a 30-yard effort from Eric Dier to call the Portugal goalkeeper into action after the break, although it began a spell of pressure from the hosts.</p>
<p>Walker continued to look one of England&#8217;s most dangerous players and was caught just outside the box by Andre Gomes, with Gary Cahill&#8217;s header from the resulting free-kick blocked by Jose Fonte.</p>
<p>Kane saw a free-kick deflected wide from distance and substitute Daniel Sturridge hit a snap-shot across goal as England pushed for a winner, which arrived four minutes from time.</p>
<p>Substitute Raheem Sterling superbly bent in a right-footed cross and Smalling darted in to direct a header past Patricio, belatedly giving the home fans something to cheer on a frustrating night.</p>
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