Late flurry adds gloss to laboured England win in Malta
MALTA: Three goals in the last six minutes disguised an uninspired England performance as they beat Malta 4-0 to stay firmly on course to qualify for next year’s World Cup finals.
Harry Kane’s 53rd-minute goal was all that separated England’s Premier League stars from Malta’s humble part-timers until a late flurry added gloss on the scoreline.
Ryan Bertrand’s powerful shot doubled England’s lead before Danny Welbeck and Kane with his second punished the flagging islanders in stoppage time at the Ta’ Qali National Stadium.
“Whenever you come away for games like this it is never going to be easy. We were trying to break them down, they had 10 men behind the ball. We knew if we just kept moving it wide we would find the space,” Kane told ITV.
“The manager makes his choices, he puts the team out he thinks we will win the game and we won 4-0 so we have done the right job tonight.”
England stayed top of qualifying Group F with 17 points from seven games, two more than secondplaced Slovakia who beat Slovenia and who travel to play England on Monday. England were booed off by a large travelling army of fans at halftime having shown a complete lack of guile in trying to break down a well-disciplined Malta side who began the game bottom of the table with no points.
Such was the tedium that some fans even chanted the name of Wayne Rooney, England’s all-time leading scorer who recently announced his retirement from international football.
The mood was more cheery at the end although England will need to play better to avoid a slip against Slovakia at Wembley.
“We didn’t have that many clear cut chances, we knew at halftime we had to keep going and we would break them down eventually,” England captain Jordan Henderson said. “There are positives to come out of it but plenty of room to improve it as well.”
On a sweaty night Raheem Sterling and Kane were denied by Malta keeper Andrew Hogg early on while Malta’s Ryan Fenech fired narrowly over in a rare attack for the hosts.
Hogg was barely tested for the rest of the half as England’s overwhelming possession amounted to precious little as Gareth Southgate’s players ran into cul-de-sacs. MEXICO CITY: Mexico became the fifth team to guarantee their place at the 2018 World Cup on Friday as the United States crashed to defeat at home to Costa Rica to place their qualification campaign in jeopardy.
A Hirving Lozano header on 53 minutes was enough to give Mexico a 1-0 win over Panama at the Azteca Stadium as the CONCACAF heavyweights reached the finals for a seventh successive occasion.
Mexico join Brazil, Japan and Iran alongside hosts Russia as the teams to have confirmed their places in next year’s finals.
Friday’s win saw Mexico go top of the six-nation final qualifying round in CONCACAF, with 17 points from six games.
The result means they are guaranteed one of the automatic World Cup berths awarded to the top three finishers in the group.
But while Mexico celebrated, arch-rivals the USA were left contemplating a road to Russia that has suddenly become much more uncertain following their 2-0 loss to 2014 World Cup quarterfinalists Costa Rica in Harrison, New Jersey.
The win left Costa Rica second in the standings on 14 points, while the USA continue to hold on to the third automatic qualifying place with eight points from seven games.
The Americans however are level on eight points with Honduras, who host the US next week in what promises to be a tense duel in the Central American nation.
Costa Rica striker Marco Urena was the hero at the Red Bull Arena, where a large contingent of Costa Rica fans in the 25,000-seat stadium made the fixture feel like an away tie for the USA.
Urena scored twice to give Costa Rica their first World Cup away win over the USA since 1985.