Kane leads England’s advance to Euro finals
England qualified in style for the 2020 European Championship, while the Czech Republic, France and Turkey also booked their places yesterday at next year’s tournament.
England needed only a draw to qualify but Harry Kane scored a hat-trick in a 7-0 win over Montenegro, and the Czech Republic also advanced from group A by beating Kosovo 2-1.
The result also meant that England, playing their 1000th game, clinched top spot in the group thanks to they headto-head record against the Czech Republic. They won 5-0 at Wembley in March before losing 2-1 in Prague last month.
‘‘The important thing is we have qualified,’’ Kane told ITV after the game. ‘‘We’ve had one slip-up in the whole group and responded really well to the defeat and got the job done.
‘‘We wanted to put on a show in the 1000th game and the score at halftime [5-0] really showed that.’’
Cristiano Ronaldo also scored a hattrick, in Portugal’s 6-0 win over Lithuania, to keep the defending champions in contention for one of the top two spots in group B.
Iceland’s earlier draw in Istanbul had already ensured France and Turkey were
players, it gives an opportunity to other players.
‘‘There will come a time when we need to win games, but now’s not that time, this is about developing a team and through from group H.
All three of Kane’s goals came in the first half as the Tottenham forward became the first player to score a hattrick in successive appearances at Wembley, having also scored a treble against Bulgaria in September.
developing our style of play. Once we get into World Cup qualifiers, that changes obviously.’’
Elijah Just and Joe Bell joined McCowatt in earning their first caps
The landmark night was completed by Tammy Abraham’s first England goal, six minutes from time. Alex OxladeChamberlain scored the opener in the 11th minute and Marcus Rashford also netted in the first half.
After a flood of goals in the first half,
from the start yesterday, and both impressed, while Elliot Collier made his debut off the bench, spurning an excellent chance to score when played in by Sarpreet Singh. the Montenegro net was only breached after the break by Aleksandar Sofranac’s own-goal and Abraham in the 84th.
England will be back at Wembley at the finals, with three group-stage games at the national stadium, one of 12 venues being used in 12 cities across Europe. The semifinals and final are also at Wembley in July, 2020.
The Czech Republic needed to win to join England but had a scare when Atdhe Nuhiu headed Kosovo into a surprise lead five minutes after the interval.
But Alex Kral curled in a stunning equaliser in the 71st and Ondrej Celustka scored what was to prove the crucial goal for the Czechs eight minutes later.
Ronaldo hadn’t scored in his last three club matches after playing with a knee injury, but the Juventus forward showed little sign of any problems as he came to his country’s aid yesterday, reaching 98 national goals in the process.
It was the ninth hat-trick with Portugal for Ronaldo, and the 55th of his career for club and country. He has 10 goals in seven qualifying matches.
Pizzi Fernandes, Goncalo Paciencia and Bernardo Silva also scored for Portugal, who can qualify with a win in their final group B match on Monday at Luxembourg.