Kane’s equaliser denies Scots
HARRY Kane marked his first game as captain with a stoppage-time equaliser as England denied Scotland a famous victory in Saturday’s 2-2 World Cup qualifying draw in Glasgow.
England were heading for a first qualifying defeat since October 2009, after Leigh Griffiths struck two glorious late free-kicks to wipe out substitute Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s 70th-minute opener.
But in a breathless denouement, Tottenham Hotspur striker Kane dispatched a deep cross at the back post to preserve England’s unbeaten record in Group F and deny Scotland a first win over their oldest rivals since 1999.
“The end for me is a significant moment because the character of the team has to come through in these moments,” England manager Gareth Southgate, whose side face France in a friendly in Paris tomorrow, said.
England remain top of their qualifying pool, but Slovakia have trimmed their advantage to two points after moving up to second place after a 2-1 win in Lithuania.
Kane’s strike, his sixth in 18 England games, was a sucker-punch for Scotland manager Gordon Strachan, whose side remain in fourth place, four points off a possible playoff berth.
Meanwhile, forward Sandro Wagner scored a hat-trick, his first goals for Germany, to lead the world champions to a predictably comfortable 7-0 stroll against minnows San Marino on Saturday. Amin Younes and Julian Brandt also scored their first international goals, while Julian Draxler and Shkodran Mustafi shared the others as Germany maintained their 100% record after six games in European Group C.
Germany’s coach, Joachim Loew, fielded players from 11 different clubs in their starting lineup, the first time that has happened in 57 years.
In Warsaw, Robert Lewandowski scored a hat-trick, two of them from penalties, to lead Poland to a 3-1 win over Romania which kept them top of their World Cup qualifying group on Saturday.
Montenegro beat Armenia 4-1 with a Stevan Jovetic hat-trick and Denmark won 3-1 in Kazakhstan.