> England’s Jadon Sancho celebrates scoring his first goal during last night’s European Championship qualifier against Kosovo at Southampton.
JADON Sancho announced himself on the international stage in some style, scoring twice on a night when England’s ruthless edge made up for some shambolic defending in a thrilling, high-scoring win against Kosovo.
A sell-out crowd in Southampton bore witness to the most entertaining qualifier in many a year as Gareth Southgate’s men continued their march to the 2020 European Championship with an enthralling, if at times unconvincing, 5-3 victory.
Defensive errors gifted Kosovo a shock opener and then second-half hope, but a clinical first half proved decisive as Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane goals were complemented by an own goal and quickfire brace from Sancho in a helter-skelter qualifying clash.
Southgate made three changes from the team which battered Bulgaria last weekend. Sancho replaced Marcus Rashford in attack while the manager also opted to rotate his fullbacks, as Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ben Chilwell came in for Kieran Trippier and Danny Rose.
Uncapped duo James Maddison and Tyrone Mings were made to wait for their debuts, having both been named among the substitutes.
Kosovo, facing England for the first time in a senior international and unbeaten in almost two years, named two players based in England. Goalkeeper Arijanet Muric, on loan at Nottingham Forest from Manchester City, and Huddersfield Town defender Florent Hadergjonaj started at St Mary’s Stadium.
Kosovo had a dream start as defender Michael Keane gifted possession to Vedat Muriqi inside the opening seconds of the game.
Muriqi slipped the ball through for Valon Berisha to tuck it home with aplomb and send the visiting players and support into raptures.
The Three Lions were level in the seventh minute and with their first clear-cut opportunity, Sterling scoring a rare header as Keane made amends by nodding a Ross Barkley corner into the path of the Manchester City forward.
Sterling was be on hand to turn past Kosovo captain Amir Rrahmani in midfield and burst forward into space before playing in Kane, who added to his hat-trick in last Saturday’s 4-0 thrashing of Bulgaria with a fine finish.
The hosts were bossing possession but Kosovo still created some chances, with Mergim Vojvoda firing into Jordan Pickford’s side-netting. The full-back put the ball in the net soon afterwards, although it was at the wrong end as he turned Sancho’s cross into his own goal to put England 3-1 ahead.
The lead was extended further late in the first half, Sterling again providing the assist as he slid in Sancho for the Borussia Dortmund man to score his first senior England goal.
It was another free-flowing attack from Southgate’s side, but it owed much to a fine Declan Rice challenge in the middle of the park which set England away once more.
Remarkably, there was still time for a fifth before the interval, with Sterling on hand yet again to lay on the goal – this time the forward danced past the beleaguered Vojvoda and squared for Sancho to tap home for his second goal in quick succession.
Alexander-Arnold came close to adding a sixth just two minutes after the restart, but his well-hit strike was pushed away by Muric.
Instead, Kosovo reduced the arrears as Rice needlessly gave away possession, leading to Muriqi crossing for Berisha to coolly convert his second of the evening.
In yet another twist, Kosovo were then awarded a penalty as Harry Maguire failed to clear Hadergjonaj’s low cross and tripped Muriqi at the second attempt.
Muriqi picked himself up to take the resulting spot-kick and fired home past Pickford, who got his hands to the ball, to make the scoreline 5-3.
Referee Felix Zwayer then awarded England a penalty, after ruling that Ross Barkley had been tripped by Besar Halimi just inside the box. After a delay, Kane saw his spot-kick saved by Muric.
Sterling went close to adding a sixth, after Kane battled to win the ball back before rolling a pass into England’s number seven, whose close-range shot was turned on to a post by the legs of Muric.
Moments later, a Sancho break ended with a pass to Sterling, whose effort took a heavy deflection and wrong-footed Muric only for the ball to bobble inches wide of a post. Keane ruffled the side-netting with a header after the resulting corner had initially been cleared away, as both sides continued to chase goals whenever they could.
The final stages were played out with relatively little, drama given what had gone before, with England sealing victory to maintain their 100 per-cent start to qualification and ending Kosovo’s 15-match unbeaten run. But, while the attacking play of Sancho, Kane and Rashford was a delight at times, Southgate will be concerned with the errors which led to all three of Kosovo’s goals.