England rout San Marino as Germany ease past Iceland

Gareth Southgate hailed Ollie Watkins’ “fairytale” England debut after the Aston Villa striker scored in a 5-0 win against San Marino in Thursday’s opening World Cup qualifier.

Just four years ago, Watkins was playing in English football’s fourth tier with Exeter.

The 25-year-old has enjoyed a meteoric rise since then, joining Brentford in 2017 before moving to Villa last year after finishing as top scorer in the Championship.

He has scored 12 times in his first campaign with the Premier League club, earning a maiden England call-up and a debut against minnows San Marino at Wembley.

With England four goals up thanks to Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s brace, a first international goal for James Ward-Prowse and Raheem Sterling’s strike, Watkins came on after 63 minutes.

Set up by Phil Foden’s pass, Watkins scored with his first shot in an England shirt with a cool low finish. Watkins’ beaming face and the jubilant celebrations of his team-mates underlined what a special moment it was for a player who has had to fight his way to the top.

England boss Southgate recognised the significance of the moment, saying: “The first thing you saw was the reaction from the rest of the team. That shows you how together they are. They know what it means for him.

“He’s settled in really quickly with the group. He’s a really humble boy and it was nice to be able to give him half an hour or so. For him to get a goal is fairytale isn’t it?”

Meanwhile, England’s 2022 World Cup qualifier against Albania this weekend in Tirana will be played as police dismissed a security issue raised by the Albanian Football Association, police said Friday.

“The state police undertook all the measures to guarantee order and safety before, during and after the football match between Albania and England” on Sunday, a state police spokesman told AFP.

Spokesman Gent Mullai said it was a “misunderstanding” and voiced regret over what he called the AFA’s “hasty reaction in the media”.

GERMANY CRUISE: Germany cruised to a 3-0 win over Iceland on Thursday to get their 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign off to a winning start after their players staged a pre-match demonstration for human rights.

The Germans lined up ahead of their match wearing T-shirts that spelled out “human rights” a day after Norway’s player took to the field wearing a similar slogan in protest of conditions for migrant workers building the stadiums in the finals’ host nation Qatar.

Once on the pitch in Duisburg Joachim Loew’s side raced into a 2-0 lead inside the opening seven minutes through Leon Goretzka and Kai Havertz.

It was the first time in 52 years that Germany have led so early in a men’s international.

It was the perfect reaction after head coach Joachim Loew had demanded a strong display after a humiliating 6-0 thrashing by Spain last November. Midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, who has scored 16 goals in 34 games for Manchester City this season, then carried his scoring streak to national duty to net Germany’s second-half goal.

Germany had a scare before kick-off when midfielder Jonas Hofmann tested positive for Covid-19, but the game was allowed to go ahead after consultation with local authorities.

Bayern Munich’s 18-year-old midfielder Jamal Musiala came on to make his Germany debut for the final 12 minutes despite playing twice for England Under-21 last November.

SCOTLAND, AUSTRIA SHARE SPOILS: John McGinn’s stunning overhead kick five minutes from time rescued Scotland from a losing start to their 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign in an entertaining 2-2 draw with Austria at Hampden on Thursday.

Sasa Kalajdzic twice put the visitors in front in the second-half with his first international goals, but Grant Hanley’s header and moment of magic from McGinn ensured another qualifying campaign did not get off to the worst possible start for Scotland.

Steve Clarke’s men ended a 22-year wait to qualify for a major international tournament by reaching the upcoming Euro 2020 in November.

But they face an uphill task to make it to Qatar with Austria and Denmark the two top seeds in Group F and only one automatic place at the World Cup up for grabs.



World Cup 2022 European zone qualifying results on Thursday:

Group B: Sweden 1 (Claesson 35) Georgia 0; Spain 1 (Morata 33) Greece 1 (Bakasetas 57-pen); Group C: Bulgaria 1 (Despodov 46) Switzerland 3 (Embolo 7, Seferovic 10, Zuber 12); Italy 2 (Berardi 14, Immobile 39) Northern Ireland 0;

Group F: Israel 0 Denmark 2 (Braithwaite 13, Wind 67); Moldova 1 (Nicolaescu 9) Faroe Islands 1 (M. Olsen 83); Scotland 2 (Hanley 71, McGinn 85) Austria 2 (Kalajdzic 55, 80);

Group I: Andorra 0 Albania 1 (Lenjani 41); Hungary 3 (Sallai 6, Szalai 53, Orban 78) Poland 3 (Piatek 60, Jozwiak 61, Lewandowski 83); England 5 (Ward-Prowse 14, Calvert-Lewin 21, 53, Sterling 31, Watkins 83) San Marino 0; Group J: Germany 3 (Goretzka 3, Havertz 7, Gundogan 56) Iceland 0; Romania 3 (Tanase 28, Mihaila 50, Hagi 86) North Macedonia 2 (Ademi 82, Trajkovski 83); Liechtenstein 0 Armenia 1 (Frommelt 83-og)