KOSOVO CHAOS
Sancho on fire in thriller but errors at back are a worry for Southgate
GARETH SOUTHGATE bemoaned england’s calamitous defensive display, despite watching his side maintain their perfect euro 2020 record.
Having conceded inside 34 seconds, a magical first half saw england go 5-1 up through Jadon Sancho (2), raheem Sterling, Harry Kane and an own goal.
But defensive errors let Kosovo pull two goals back early in the second half of a seesaw game. michael Keane, Declan rice and Harry maguire were the main culprits and manager Southgate said: ‘obvious poor errors for the goals and a poor start to the game. We have to be better. The players don’t need me to tell them that. We made ridiculous mistakes,
Look, it was such fun. Cracking game, cracking atmosphere, another emphatic win for England, yet still a night few kosovans will ever forget. only a curmudgeon would have left St Mary’s without a great big smile, heading into the night, happy to have been here.
Yet how long that warm feeling lasts depends very much on the character of the individual. Glass half full or half empty? Did you see the most dangerous forward line in European football tearing apart a nation who had gone 15 games without defeat and racing to a 5-1 half-time lead? or did you see a sloppy, vulnerable defence who gave up three goals against a fledgling nation missing five first-team players, and lost the second half 2-0?
Those who saw the former will maintain that England have a genuine chance at the European Championship next summer. Those who saw the latter will believe this team might be horribly undone by any nation with hopes of winning the tournament. The divide is that strong. Much like the nation’s politics at the moment, this is a team of extremes.
As much as Raheem Sterling, Harry kane and Jadon Sancho looked like scoring them, so Harry Maguire and Michael keane, in particular, seemed capable of shipping them. Gareth Southgate, being a coach and a former defender, probably tends towards pessimism in private, even if his public persona will have celebrated the win.
Earlier this week, he reeled off the teams he expects to contend the 2020 European Championship finals. It was the usual suspects: Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Holland, Belgium, Portugal. Can England score four against any of those teams? Because they’ll certainly concede three if they defend like this. Careless passing, poor positioning, impetuosity when calm was required. If there was a list of defensive deadly sins, England were guilty of most of them.
So it is probably just as well that Southgate’s forward line is currently rewriting European football’s history books. No nation, in either a UEFA World Cup or European Championship qualifying campaign, has started like this. on Saturday, England became the first team to score four goals or more in their first three qualifying matches and last night they went one better. Either the level in Group A is depressingly low, or Southgate has crafted that rarest of beasts: a genuinely freewheeling England team.
kosovo are supposed to be good. kosovo, as a new nation, are imbued with mythical qualities born of national fervour and pride. Yet it didn’t count for much in the first half here. They took the lead within the first minute — but so did San Marino against England, famously, in 1993.
But just as San Marino were swept aside having enjoyed their moment of glory, so kosovo were quickly undone by England’s lightning fast front trio. They couldn’t handle them, couldn’t handle their speed, couldn’t resist their intent. kosovo were 5-1 down by half-time and it was not a scoreline that flattered England.
It was also another huge vindication for Southgate and not only because he stood by England’s most influential player, Raheem Sterling, but because he was bold enough to change the forward line after a 4-0 win, introducing Jadon Sancho for Marcus Rashford and being rewarded with goals, as well as a devastating threat on the right.
After Sancho’s second he wrapped an arm around Sterling and pointed him out to the crowd — as if any introduction were needed. Sterling was simply sensational. It is incredible to think that this time last year, heads were being scratched as 1,102 days passed without a goal for England.
Southgate kept faith, though, and was ultimately rewarded with a goal against Spain in october. Since then, Sterling has scored eight in eight matches for his country. Yet last night was about more than just finishing. Sterling was also the architect of three of England’s five goals, his pace on the left or through the middle terrifying the kosovans who were backing off at a speed that suggested a runaway combine harvester, not a wide forward on the loose.
Pep Guardiola deserves credit, too, for bringing this out of his player, but whatever strides were being made at Manchester City would have been worthless, without Southgate’s endorsement. A weaker manager might have given up on Sterling. Southgate never wavered.
Just as he refuses to waver on playing the ball out from the back, even if some of his central defenders appear unequal to the task. Latest to fail the test, Michael keane, at fault for kosovo’s opener inside a minute. Joe Gomez of Liverpool would appear the better bet right now but, where he can, Southgate favours those in regular action for their clubs. So keane partnered Harry Maguire, and keane made the horrid, sloppy error that rewarded kosovo the first time they applied pressure.
England knocked it about at the back, Maguire to Ross Barkley, Barkley back to keane. It wasn’t the Chelsea man’s greatest decision but keane could easily have gone back again, to his Everton team- mate Jordan Pickford. Instead he struck the ball square, ostensibly to Maguire, but it fell instead to kosovo’s Verdat Muriqi. He fed it swiftly into Valon
Berisha, whose finish showed no sign of nerves, given this was arguably the biggest game in Kosovo’s history.
At the weekend Southgate said he would not swap England’s forward permutations for any trio in the world, and it soon became apparent why. His team took the game from Kosovo before halftime — and they most certainly needed to, given the woeful defensive display that overtook the second half.
Keane made amends, of sorts, with the first. Sancho won a corner which Barkley curled to the far post, where it was met by Keane with an intelligent run. His header back across goal found Sterling, not the biggest presence in the box, but popping up with a surprising number of headers these days. He steered the ball past goalkeeper Arijanet Muric, and England were level.
And swiftly ahead. Sterling again, turning superbly on the centre circle, losing his man and speeding down the middle before releasing Kane. The moment England’s captain controlled it, the crowd sensed goal, and he didn’t disappoint, a lovely low finish leaving Muric no chance. If he stays fit he will undoubtedly overtake Wayne Rooney’s scoring record. If it is Rooney’s record to overtake, mind. Closing on him rapidly is own goals, totalling 52 to Rooney’s 53 after the hapless intervention of Mergim Vojvoda.
Kosovo were furious that Fidan Aliti was down following a challenge from Trent AlexanderArnold, but there didn’t look to be much to it. Sancho benefited from extra space on his flank, however, and got in a cross which Vojvoda clumsily turned into an empty net at the far post. There was no England man near him either.
By now Kosovo were struggling with England’s intensity and the next two goals were carbon copies, minutes apart. For the first, Sterling broke down the left and played Sancho in with a lovely diagonal ball, finished with a low shot after a moment’s hesitation. Next time, another Sterling break ended with the ball cut back and finished by Sancho into an unguarded net.
So the game was as good as won when England’s slackness brought it to life. Declan Rice gave the ball away to allow Kosovo the counter-attacking initiative after 49 minutes. Muriqi played it to Berisha with Jordan Henderson out of position and Kosovo pulled one back.
No need to panic, but Maguire did, getting in a tangle attempting a routine block that ended with him grounded and felling Muriqi, who took the penalty and brought Kosovo to within two goals.
When Barkley was fouled, Kane’s penalty was saved by Muric, and Sterling hit a post, but near misses will not worry Southgate as much as near chaos at the back. It might not matter now, but one day it most certainly will.