Euro 2024 contenders are all flawed – and that will add to the spectacle

aThe boos echoed from an increasingly empty Wembley on Friday, the pitch littered with paper planes, thoughts drifting back to a similar event eight years ago and another friendly in preparation for the European Championship. That time the opponent was Portugal and there were also boos, despite Chris Smalling heading the winner from a Raheem Sterling cross with four minutes to go. Just over a month later, England were eagerly awaiting a fresh start under Sam Allardyce after being knocked out by Iceland in their first post-Brexit referendum game, and Portugal became European champions.

It is true that Portugal had Bruno Alves sent off ten minutes before half-time in that friendly; someone desperate for cause and effect post hoc might conclude that in their resistance there were indications of Portugal’s ultimate hard-nosed triumph. And there was certainly plenty of evidence of England’s lack of fluency in the weeks that followed. But it is even truer to say that pre-season friendlies are quickly forgotten.

No one should get too carried away by the fact that England lost the last friendly match before this summer’s European Championships 1-0 to Iceland, that France drew 0-0 with Canada, that Germany scored a last-minute goal needed to win against Greece or that Portugal was defeated 2-1 at home by Croatia. But the final warm-up matches cannot be completely ignored either. England’s performance against Iceland highlighted a number of doubts about the squad. There has rarely been such a sense of stability when an England team heads to a tournament; no one doubts they will play a 4-2-3-1, and seven or possibly eight of the starters are an obvious choice. But Harry Maguire’s injury means they lack a commanding aerial presence and the problems in midfield and on the left are significant.

What Friday perhaps confirmed was the need for a dynamic and aggressive presence alongside Declan Rice in midfield. Much more than the lack of fluid attacking, the openness that led to Iceland’s goal and could have led to several more was a concern. That probably means that Connor Gallagher will replace Kobbie Mainoo. Jude Bellingham returns to the central creative role, which likely means Phil Foden on the left.

But that creates a problem because Foden naturally drifts into the infield and so balance requires a full-back who can move beyond him. Luke Shaw is the only left-footed defender in the squad, but he has not played since suffering a hamstring injury in February. He won’t be fit until England’s second match against Denmark at the earliest, and the fact that Gareth Southgate has felt the need to include him highlights the lack of alternatives. Kieran Trippier is likely to come on as a substitute in the opener against Serbia, meaning England will have very little attacking width on the left.

Southgate is a meticulous planner: Shaw feels like a gamble forced upon him, while the uncertainty in midfield and the inability to find a replacement for Kalvin Phillips or Jordan Henderson are unusual. The atmosphere last Friday, the sense that everything was coming together, felt very old England, very much from the pre-Southgate era. Yet it is also true that, as Portugal showed in 2016, sometimes things fall into place; even the best teams – Spain at the 2010 World Cup, Germany in 2014, Argentina in 2022 – sometimes have to grow together.

And it is not the case that a team participates in the tournament in impressive form. Italy, the defending champions, were comfortably beaten twice by England in qualifying and while they may be improving under Luciano Spalletti, they have been insipid in the past week, drawing 0-0 with Turkey and Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-0 defeat.

Germany, the hosts, had a dismal 2023, highlighted by the 4-1 defeat to Japan that led to Hansi Flick becoming the first ever German coach to be sacked. There has been an improvement under Julian Nagelsmann, with the return of Toni Kroos alongside Robert Andrich at the back of midfield a key factor, but after wins over the Netherlands and France in March, a 0-0 against Ukraine and a sluggish 2-1 victory. expectations about Greece have been tempered.

France have the best squad at the tournament, but the re-selection of N’Golo Kante shows how concerned Didier Deschamps was about the lack of balance in midfield during March’s defeat to Germany. Kylian Mbappé missed the draw against Canada, but he represents an enigma: on the one hand an extremely gifted finisher, but on the other hand someone who occasionally fails to participate: in the semi-finals and finals of the Qatar World Cup had to be moved from his favored berth on the left to the center as he did too little to track the forward runs of the opposition full-back.

Portugal have a similar problem with Cristiano Ronaldo, who is not what he once was but continues to be selected while Roberto Martínez juggles a hugely gifted squad around him. Spain has an excellent midfield, but an unconvincing attacker, with Álvaro Morata as the center. The Netherlands have a solid and experienced backline and plenty of willing runners, but, unusually, a midfield that lacks real class, while Belgium’s post-Golden Generation side remains reliant on the aging duo of Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku for goals, with using Jérémy Doku as a left back is an intriguing or not entirely convincing experiment.

But that’s the beauty of international football. Nobody is perfect. No one can simply buy a well-balanced squad, while the lack of time available means that the systems are much less advanced than at club level. In any case, the flaws add to the spectacle. The worry for England is that theirs are a bit too big and have come about at exactly the wrong time.

• This is an excerpt from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, the Guardian US’s weekly look at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Do you have a question for Jonathan? Email footballwithjw@theguardian.com and he will provide the best answer in a future edition