ENGLAND MOW
Pitch needed cut but Gareth’s boys still sow seeds of hope
IN TRUTH there were times when spending Sunday afternoon cutting the grass might have been more fun than watching this.
But the Albanians refused an official FA request to trim the pitch of their Air Albania Stadium, preferring to spend the 90 minutes in a spectacle-destroying hack through the rough with their opponents.
The important thing, just three months before a major tournament, is that the result was exactly the same.
We witnessed impressive, comfortable and comprehensive win for Gareth Southgate’s team.
In the opening exchanges, England were clearly struggling to exert their superiority when every pass had an element of lottery. Mason Mount hit an horrendous back-pass and he ball was fed across to Myrto Uzuni on the edge of the area but, thankfully, the shot was well over the bar. It would have been a very different game otherwise.
As it was, England just needed that moment of world class to crack it. Hello Harry Kane!
Having watched most of the 30 shots against San Marino go to waste, and after 16 months since his last England goal, Kane was hungry.
Luke Shaw’s 37th-minute cross was inviting enough. But it was the way Kane spun 270 degrees around Freddie Veseli – starting behind him then appearing round the back of him to nod the ball perfectly into the far corner – that made England’s opener unstoppable.
In fairness, he missed an even easier chance four minutes later. Raheem Sterling’s deep cross enabled him to sneak in unsuspected at the far post only to fire his shot against the underside of the crossbar and away. Sterling seemed a little bit self-centred in the San Marino duck-shoot last week but against Albania was teeing up team-mates at every opportunity.
A pull-back for Phil Foden was met with a fierce shot which the Albania goalkeeper Etrit Berisha did well to deflect against the base of the post.
It was a slightly embarrassing miskick in front of goal that should have enabled Kane to add to his tally after the break – perhaps not an assist to be proud of.Then finally it was his good work that won the