England wins in Spain for first time in 31 years
SEVILLA: Raheem Sterling has ended his international scoring drought with two goals in England’s 32 win in Spain to keep alive its chances of playing for the Nations League title.
Sterling opened the scoring in the 16th minute and doubled his tally in the 38th, after Marcus Rashford had netted on the half hour.
Substitute Paco Alcacer netted for Spain in the 58th and captain Sergio Ramos headed home deep into stoppage time in the final play of the game.
Sterling scored his first England goals since October 2015 as the visitor won in Spain for the first time since 1987 to inflict the host’s first home defeat in a competitive game since 2003.
‘‘It was a beautiful feeling,’’ Sterling said.
‘‘I put a lot of pressure on myself to try to get in the box and score . . . it’s my position to score goals, so I need to keep that going.’’
While Spain dominated the majority of possession and chances over the course of the match, England manager Gareth Southgate was hardpressed to think of many better performances from the national team.
‘‘I am delighted with what we have done. They should be incredibly proud of their performance,’’ he told Sky Sports.
After its limp firsthalf performance, Spain was booed off at the break at the 60,000capacity Benito Villamarin stadium. Luis Enrique tasted his first defeat as Spain coach.
‘‘Our performance in the first half was awful. We have to recognise that . . .
‘‘We pushed them all the way back in the second half and it’s a shame we didn’t score the second goal earlier, because our fans would have scored the third goal by themselves.’’
Despite the loss, league A group 4 leader Spain (six points) can seal top spot with a win in Croatia (one point) next month before the section concludes when England (four points) plays Croatia at Wembley three days later.
Switzerland won 21 in Iceland, which confirmed the relegation of the host to the second tier.
Haris Seferovic headed the Swiss ahead in the 52nd, before Michael Lang doubled the lead.
Alfred Finnbogason’s blast went in off the left post but it was not enough as Iceland lost to extend its winless streak to 11 games.
The Swiss and league A group 2 leader Belgium have six points each before their deciding showdown in November.
The winners of the four League A groups advance to the minitournament finals in June 2019. Edin Dzeko scored both goals as Bosnia and Herzegovina beat Northern Ireland 20 to take another step towards promotion to the top tier, on a maximum nine points in league B group 3.
Finland has a perfect 12 points after winning a C2 clash with secondplaced Greece 20, with Estonia and Hungary drawing 33.
Luxembourg beat San Marino 30 to go top in group D2 as Belarus was held 00 by Moldova.