England join elite club as Slovaks qualify
VILNIUS: England became only the sixth team to end a European qualifying campaign with a 100% record when they beat Lithuania 3-0 in their final Group E match last night.
England, showing eight changes from the team that started Friday’s 2-0 win over Estonia at Wembley, put themselves into a commanding position after scoring two goals which went in off the same right-hand post inside the opening 35 minutes.
First, after 29 minutes, a powerful long-range strike from Ross Barkley took a deflection off a defender and went in off the post.
Six minutes later another well-struck shot from Harry Kane hit the post and struck the back of keeper Giedrius Arlauskis, who conceded an own-goal as the ball rebounded into the net.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain blasted England’s third at Arlauskis’s near-post after 62 minutes as they emphatically made it 10 wins out of 10, the only team in this qualifying competition to win all of their matches.
England sealed their place in the Euro 2016 finals last month and never remotely looked like squandering the chance of joining France (1992 and 2004 qualifying), Czech Republic (2000), Germany and Spain (both 2012) as the only countries to have achieved a perfect qualifying record.
In Group C, Marek Hamsik scored twice and Slovakia netted three goals in a six-minute span to beat Luxembourg 4-2 as they booked a place at the finals.
The Slovaks are set to make their first trip as an independent nation to the European Championship after finishing second in Group C behind leaders Spain, who beat thirdplaced Ukraine 1-0 to end their hopes of an automatic berth.
Ukraine, who had to better Slovakia’s result to earn their ticket, will now feature in next month’s play-offs. – Reuters