England Thrash San Marino
England got their World Cup qualification campaign off to the best possible start on Thursday night, as the Three Lions beat San Marino 5-0 at Wembley Stadium.
Southampton captain James Ward-Prowse opened the scoring before he was joined on the scoresheet by Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who grabbed a brace, Raheem Sterling and Ollie Watkins, who netted on his England debut.
Clearly with one eye on England’s next couple of matches against Albania and Poland, Gareth Southgate opted to keep Harry Maguire and Harry Kane in reserve, meaning that the likes of Kalvin Phillips, Conor Coady and Jesse Lingard all featured.
At the half-time break, England made four changes: Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham, Tyrone Mings and Kieran Trippier all came on for Raheem Sterling, Mason Mount, John Stones and Reece James.
It will be interesting to see how the Three Lions line up against Albania in Tirana on Sunday evening, but at least they go there in the knowledge that they’ve already got three points on the board – and four players already off the mark scoring-wise.
