Kane leads the way as England ease past Albania
(Writer & Photo credit: Shea Thomas)
Harry Kane struck twice after the break as England completed a perfect World Cup qualifying campaign with an 8-0 record.
Already confirmed as group winners before kick-off, England arrived in Albania with qualification secured and Thomas Tuchel clearly in experimental mode. The England manager made seven changes from the side that defeated Serbia at Wembley on Thursday and added further tactical adjustments, most notably using John Stones in a hybrid midfield role whenever England had possession.
England controlled large spells of the game without ever fully finding top gear. There were moments of quality throughout the night, particularly when the tempo increased, but this was not one of those performances that will have supporters booking flights for the World Cup based purely on vibes.
Still, good teams win these games — and England did.
England vs Andorra World Cup Qualifer– September 6th
England Beat Andorra, But Social Media Still Declared a National Crisis
Match Review
Villa Park, Birmingham
Writer & Photo Credit: Shea Thomas
England got the job done against Andorra on Saturday night, but if you listened to social media during the game, you’d think they’d just been knocked out of a major tournament by a team of part-time accountants and ski instructors.
A comfortable win on paper turned into a full online therapy session for England fans, who somehow managed to go from “football’s coming home” to “we’re finished” in the space of 45 sideways passes.
To be fair, England dominated possession from the first whistle. The problem was that most of that possession looked like a group project where nobody wanted to take responsibility. The ball moved left, then right, then backwards, then eventually back to the goalkeeper, while Andorra defended like their lives depended on it.
And honestly? Credit to Andorra. Every clearance was celebrated like a last-minute winner. Every tackle got the reaction of someone who’d just saved the world. At one point, their goalkeeper was probably England’s most creative playmaker.
England eventually broke through, well Christian García from Andorra did scoring an own goal. A 67th minute goal scored by England’s Declan Rice sealed the deal and the final score ending 2-0!
The atmosphere around England remains fascinating. Winning comfortably is apparently boring, but struggling dramatically is unacceptable. There is no middle ground. Fans want entertainment, domination, tactical perfection and six goals — preferably all before half-time.
Still, the result was never really in doubt. England leave with the points, the managers leave with headaches, and social media leaves with another 90 minutes of clips labelled:
“THIS COUNTRY IS FINISHED.”
International football heritage.