SERRAVALLE, San Marino (AP) — England hit double figures in goals in a competitive game for the first time to power into the World Cup on Tuesday (AEDT).
Harry Kane enjoyed himself, in particular, in the embarrassingly one-sided 10-0 win over San Marino that secured England first place in Group I of European qualifying.
England’s captain scored four goals — all in the first half, with two of them being penalties — to move his international tally to 48, which is tied with Gary Lineker and only five off Wayne Rooney’s all-time record for the country. Kane finished 2021 with 16 goals for England, a national record for a calendar year.
Watch Messi, Neymar, Ronaldo and football’s biggest superstars in the UEFA Champions League with every match streaming ad free, live and on demand only on Stan Sport. Start your seven day free trial here!
While it was a day of celebration in some ways, English football legend Michael Owen said the thrashing was a symptom of international football’s enduring problem, with one-sided qualifiers in the lead-up to major tournaments hurting its credibility.
Owen tweeted he was “rapidly falling out of love” with international football, concluding that “a restructure is needed”.
https://twitter.com/themichaelowen/status/1460351127577411591?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Harry Maguire, Emile Smith Rowe, Tyrone Mings, Tammy Abraham and Bukayo Saka also scored, along with an own-goal, as England showed no mercy against the world’s lowest-ranked team — a lineup filled with non-professionals who were using annual leave from their day jobs to play in the qualifier in Serravalle.
When England got to double figures after 79 minutes, there appeared to be a good chance the team could at least match its biggest ever win — 13-0 over Ireland in 1882. That’s one of only three times England has scored 11 goals or more.
READ MORE: Papali’i rejects huge Dolphins offer
READ MORE: Kyrgios says 2022 Australian Open should be cancelled
READ MORE: Scottie Pippen says Michael Jordan ‘ruined basketball’
This was England biggest victory since 1964 when it achieved 10-0 against the United States in New York.
England finished on 26 points, six clear of second-placed Poland, which lost at home to Hungary 2-1 and might be unseeded for next year’s playoffs. That would mean Poland playing away in its one-leg semifinal in one of the three playoff brackets.
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!