German machine book spot in Russia
international goal.
Northern Ireland, who grabbed a consolation through Josh Magennis, remain on track to claim a spot in next month’s play-offs as they attempt to reach the World Cup for the first time since 1986.
Harry Kane continued his stunning goalscoring form with a 94th-minute winner as an unimpressive England overcame Slovenia at Wembley.
Gareth Southgate’s side looked utterly bereft of ideas until skipper Kane converted Kyle Walker’s inviting cross to score his 14th goal in nine games for club and country.
It is the sixth time in succession England have qualified for the World Cup but after making such heavy work of defeating Slovenia, they are unlikely to give the game’s superpowers many sleepless nights.
“It’s not a relief, I always thought we’d achieve the objective [of qualifying],” said Southgate.
“Tonight highlighted are.
“We know exactly where we need to improve.
“We do have players who can score goals. It is a work in progress,” he added.
Robert Lewandowski scored a hattrick where we to become his country’s record goalscorer as Poland thrashed Armenia 6-1 in Yerevan.
Poland, who finished third at the 1974 and 1982 World Cups, need a point from their final match at home to Group E rivals Montenegro to assure themselves of a place in the finals.
After Kamil Grosicki’s secondminute opener, Lewandowski curled in a brilliant free-kick to draw level with Wlodzimierz Lubanski, who represented Poland from 1963 to 1980, on 48 international goals.
The Bayern Munich star claimed the outright record when he blasted home an indirect free-kick and completed his treble in the second half as Jakub Blaszczykowski and Rafal Wolski also scored for the visitors.
Lewandowski also broke a European record set in August by Cristiano Ronaldo by increasing his tally in 2018 World Cup qualifiers to 15 goals, one more than the Portugal captain.
Christian Eriksen’s 16th-minute goal steered Denmark to a 1-0 win in Montenegro to maintain their hopes of overhauling a three-point deficit to Poland when they host Romania in their final qualifier. — AFP