FROM EASY TO QUEASY
Kosovo fightback exposes England’s frailty
THIRTY-FOUR seconds is all it took for England’s defence to leave their gaffer facing endless reruns of his too easy to qualify comments.
And while his backline failed to blossom in the rest of the 90, the brilliance of Raheem Sterling stopped Gareth Southgate’s words coming back to haunt him.
With the first whistle still echoing around St Mary’s, Michael Keane decided to play the ball across his own box for Vedat Muriqi to intercept then Valon Berisha to smash home.
Five by way of reply before half-time – Sterling scoring one and setting up three – ensured England would make it four wins out of four in Group A.
But two more blunders at the back, first by Declan Rice then Harry Maguire, made it an eightgoal thriller by 55 minutes that only a Harry Kane missed spotkick could make more madcap.
Southgate, who went into this qualifier suggesting it has become too easy to qualify for major tournaments, said: “It had its moments! A bizarre game.
“There were obvious poor errors for goals but I’m really pleased with the composure we showed. We had devastating attacking play throughout and we used the ball well. The mistakes were obvious, for the errors we have to be better.
“The players don’t need me to tell them that. The outstanding parts of our play were obvious, the errors were obvious.”
So too was Sterling’s threat with Kosovo possessing no answer to his pace and power.
The shortest player on the pitch, he rose above everyone to head home after Keane flicked on a corner eight minutes in.
Sterling then played in Kane for his 26th international goal before Jadon Sancho’s cross nestled in the net thanks to defender Mergim Vojvoda’s touch. Sterling broke down the left then teed up Sancho before they did the same in injury time as the Borussia Dortmund star got his first two England goals.
But the lead lulled England into a false sense of security. Rice’s sloppy pass let in Kosovo and Berisha raced clear to score his second in 49 minutes.
Six minutes later Maguire’s clumsy challenge brought down Muriqi who buried the penalty.
England should have had a sixth in 65 minutes when Ross Barkley was brought down by Amir Rrahmani but you had something you do not see very often – a saved Kane penalty.