VALLETTA: Harry Kane began September by bringing his mini scoring drought to a timely end, but the way Gareth Southgate’s England toiled to a 4-0 victory in Malta underlines just how much work needs to be done ahead of the World Cup.
In the other Group F game Slovakia stayed on course to qualify for their second World Cup as an independent nation after a late Adam Nemec goal gave them a crucial 1-0 home win over Slovenia.
In Group E Denmark demolished leaders Poland 4-0 to narrow the gap at the top of the table to three points thanks to a midfield masterclass from Christian Eriksen, who netted a goal and provided three assists in Copenhagen.
World champions Germany had defender Mats Hummels to thank for an 88th-minute headed winner to earn a 2-1 victory away to Czech Republic in Prague. Victory maintained the Germans’ perfect record after seven games in Group C.
Malta are ranked joint 190th in the world behind American Samoa, the Cook Islands, Brunei and Bangladesh, yet it took Kane’s second-half strike and a late flurry of goals from Ryan Bertrand, Danny Welbeck and the Tottenham striker to eventually secure a flattering 4-0 win.
England’s 3,700 travelling fans resorted to gallows humour during a dire first half as their side lacked inspiration, drive and intent.
Andre Schembri gave England a scare shortly after the break, only for Kane – who had endured another barren August – to quickly retaliate by slotting home after patient play by Dele Alli.
The scoreline could not divert attention from a poor overall display, though, and improvements will be needed at home to Group F’s second-placed side Slovakia on Monday.
Manager Gareth Southgate said: “I’ve played in nights like this and I’ve watched England on nights like this, and if you don’t get a couple of early goals the atmosphere can turn. But that’s part of wearing the shirt, we’ve got to be able to deal with that.
“We spoke before the game that if Germany were playing here, we’d probably look at the score and see 4-0 or something like that and think they’ve done a professional job.
“In the end, that’s what we’ve done in the end. It has taken a while to get the goals, but that’s a consequence of dominating the game, over 70 per cent possession.
“There isn’t space to play against them, they’re 5-4-1, there’s very little space to play. When we got the ball into the areas that we’d worked on during the week, we managed to do that.
“I understand all of the reaction that we’ll get, but we have to stay focused as a group and Monday’s game will be completely different.”
European qualifying tables
Group A
France P 7 W 5 D 1 L 1 GF 15 GA 5 Pts 16
Sweden P 7 W 4 D 1 L 1 GF 14 GA 7 Pts 13
Bulgaria P 7 W 4 D 0 L 3 GF 12 GA 14 Pts 12
Netherlands P 7 W 3 D 1 L 3 GF 13 GA 10 Pts 10
Belarus P 7 W 1 D 2 L 4 GF 4 GA 12 Pts 5
Luxembourg P 7 W 1 D 1 L 5 GF 7 GA 17 Pts 4
Switzerland P 7 W 7 D 0 L 0 GF 15 GA 3 Pts 21
Portugal P 7 W 6 D 0 L 1 GF 27 GA 4 Pts 18
Hungary P 7 W 3 D 1 L 3 GF 11 GA 8 Pts 10
Faroe Islands P 7 W 1 D 2 L 4 GF 23 GA 15 Pts 5
Andorra P 7 W 1 D 1 L 5 GF 2 GA 16 Pts 4
Latvia P 7 W 1 D 0 L 6 GF 3 GA 15 Pts 3
Germany P 7 W 7 D 0 L 0 GF 29 GA 2 Pts 21
Northern Ireland P 7 W 5 D 1 L 1 GF 14 GA 2 Pts 16
Czech Republic P 7 W 2 D 3 L 2 GF 10 GA 7 Pts 9
Norway P 7 W 2 D 1 L 4 GF 8 GA 10 Pts 7
Azerbaijan P 7 W 2 D 1 L 4 GF 3 GA 11 Pts 7
San Marino P 7 W 0 D 0 L 7 GF 1 GA 33 Pts 0
Serbia P 6 W 3 D 3 L 0 GF 13 GA 7 Pts 12
Rep of Ireland P 6 W 3 D 3 L 0 GF 8 GA 4 Pts 12
Wales P 6 W 1 D 5 L 0 GF 9 GA 5 Pts 8
Austria P 6 W 2 D 2 L 2 GF 9 GA 8 Pts 8
Georgia P 6 W 0 D 3 L 3 GF 6 GA 10 Pts 3
Moldova P 6 W 0 D 2 L 4 GF 4 GA 15 Pts 2
Poland P 7 W 5 D 1 L 1 GF 15 GA 11 Pts 16
Montenegro P 7 W 4 D 1 L 2 GF 17 GA 7 Pts 13
Denmark P 7 W 4 D 1 L 2 GF 14 GA 6 Pts 13
Romania P 7 W 2 D 3 L 2 GF 8 GA 7 Pts 9
Armenia P 7 W 2 D 0 L 5 GF 7 GA 15 Pts 6
Kazakhstan P 7 W 0 D 2 L 5 GF 4 GA 19 Pts 2
England P 7 W 5 D 2 L 0 GF 14 GA 2 Pts 17
Slovakia P 7 W 5 D 0 L 2 GF 13 GA 4 Pts 15
Scotland P 7 W 3 D 2 L 2 GF 12 GA 10 Pts 11
Slovenia P 7 W 3 D 2 L 2 GF 6 GA 4 Pts 11
Lithuania P 6 W 1 D 2 L 4 GF 6 GA 14 Pts 5
Malta P 7 W 0 D 0 L 7 GF 2 GA 19 Pts 0
Spain P 6 W 5 D 1 L 0 GF 21 GA 3 Pts 16
Italy P 6 W 5 D 1 L 0 GF 18 GA 4 Pts 16
Albania P 6 W 3 D 0 L 3 GF 7 GA 8 Pts 9
Israel P 6 W 3 D 0 L 3 GF 9 GA 12 Pts 9
Macedonia P 6 W 1 D 0 L 5 GF 8 GA 13 Pts 3
Liechtenstein P 6 W 0 D 0 L 6 GF 1 GA 24 Pts 0
Belgium P 7 W 6 D 1 L 0 GF 33 GA 2 Pts 19
Greece P 7 W 3 D 4 L 0 GF 10 GA 3 Pts 13
Bosnia P 7 W 3 D 2 L 2 GF 15 GA 8 Pts 11
Cyprus P 7 W 3 D 1 L 3 GF 8 GA 11 Pts 10
Estonia P 7 W 1 D 2 L 4 GF 5 GA 17 Pts 5
Gibraltar P 7 W 0 D 0 L 7 GF 3 GA 33 Pts 0
Croatia P 6 W 4 D 1 L 0 GF 11 GA 1 Pts 13
Iceland P 6 W 4 D 1 L 1 GF 9 GA 6 Pts 13
Turkey P 6 W 3 D 2 L 1 GF 11 GA 6 Pts 11
Ukraine P 6 W 3 D 2 L 1 GF 9 GA 5 Pts 11
Finland P 6 W 0 D 1 L 5 GF 4 GA 10 Pts 1
Kosovo P 6 W 0 D 1 L 5 GF 3 GA 18 Pts 1
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