Bukayo Saka brings England back to life after Germany benefit from familiar defensive flaws

The Three Lions needed to show life and did, but big questions remain before the World Cup

LONDON -- It doesn't mean that the 70 minutes that proceeded it did not happen, let alone the five prior games that meant England were already relegated from the Nations League. Little about England's thrilling fightback to briefly turn a 2-0 deficit against Germany into a 3-2 lead is necessarily going to be replicated in Qatar in 56 days' time.

But at least for a moment, the sun burst through the clouds that had gathered over English football in recent months in a 3-3 draw with Germany where a win was canceled out by Kai Havertz. A team that had become agony to watch reminded the public why they fell head over heels last summer. Who knows if it will last into the World Cup and when the sniping over Gareth Southgate's negativity will resume. For now, however fleeting it may be, that bond is worth far more than two points in this second-tier competition.

How appropriate it was that the man to reforge that reconnection was a player so universally popular in this part of London. No one's name was cheered more loudly by the Wembley crowd than Bukayo Saka's even when the England men's player of the year was merely among the substitutes bench. It was easy to see why. As soon as Saka and Mason Mount got on the front foot there was a punch and vibrancy to England's play that had been missing since, well, you might have to go back to the 4-0 win over Ukraine in the quarterfinals of Euro 2020.