It was a wild and eccentric evening and, for Gareth Southgate, a mix of satisfaction and confusion. His players had scored five times in the first half, yet how could he be entirely happy when it was difficult to remember the last time England’s defence appeared so accident-prone? Or another game, certainly in their recent past, when they have sieved so many poor goals?
The bottom line, taking the positive view, is that England won again at the top of Group A and that means they will pass the 10-year mark since the last time they lost a qualifying match, against Ukraine in October 2009. Jadon Sancho celebrated his first international goals, Raheem Sterling maintained his sparkling form and Harry Kane enhanced his scoring statistics again. Kane is now level with Bryan Robson in the list of all-time England scorers, with 26 goals, though he passed up the chance to catch David Platt in 12th position when his second-half penalty was saved – and that in itself was a measure of how England produced the unexpected at times.
Written by Daniel Taylor at St Mary’s
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/sep/10/england-kosovo-euro-2020-qualifying-match-report under the title “Jadon Sancho the difference as blunders mar England’s 5-3 win against Kosovo”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
