RIGA; England found it almost too easy on the night to reach the World Cup finals as they despatched hosts Latvia 5-0 in Riga, led by two goals from Harry Kane. The second of the captain’s goals was his 24th successful penalty out of 28 for the Three Lions.

Elsewhere in the European section Italy secured at least a playoff place by defeating Israel 3-0 while Portugal’s hopes of reaching the finals were foiled after a 2-2 home draw with Hungary.

Qualification was the first essential step demanded by England’s German coach Thomas Tuchel only nine months after he formally began work in national team football for the first time. The achievement was illustrated by England’s qualifying statistics with six wins out of six and not one goal conceded.

England are the first European team to reach the finals and thus the first of Europe’s World Cup-winning nations to have progressed, managing it with two games to spare, against Serbia and Albania next month.

Anthony Gordon put England ahead after 26 minutes with a low, curling finish and Kane scored twice more before the interval, first with a strike from the edge of the area then from the spot after his shirt was pulled. These strikes took Kane’s overall England to 76 goals in 110 appearances

England added a fourth just before the hour when Latvia’s Andrejs Ciganiks bundled Djed Spence’s cross into his own net. Substitute Eberechi Eze further emphasised England’s dominance with a dribble and low finish to make it 5-0 after 86 minutes.

England keeper Jordan Pickford made two routine saves in the second half, extending his sequence of international clean sheets to nine in a row.

Tuchel said: “Another excellent team performance. It is a special moment – it rarely comes that you qualify for a World Cup. The mood is very good and it is all smiles and music. It is a moment to enjoy and beautiful to see what it means to the players. The way we won, first of all, gives us a lot of satisfaction.

“We want to make the fans proud and happy, they should be happy to watch us and able to identify with the way we play.”

Kane said: “It was a great game from us. After win in Serbia I spoke to the group about building the momentum that we are feeling together. It is important to keep that ball rolling. There are still two big games in November. Every moment counts – it is about building something special.”

####