England skipper Harry Kane says team totally outclassed tough opponents during 5-0 rout; boss Tuchel attributes result to high level of teamwork
England’s Marc Guehi (left) celebrates with Harry Kane after scoring against Serbia in Belgrade, Serbia, on Tuesday. Pics/Getty Images, AFP
Thomas Tuchel urged “amazing” England to use their 5-0 demolition of Serbia as the standard they must maintain on the road to the World Cup.
Tuchel’s side finally delivered the first eye-catching performance of the German’s reign as Serbia were swatted aside in Belgrade. Goals from Harry Kane, Noni Madueke, Ezri Konsa, Marc Guehi and Marcus Rashford moved England closer to qualifying for next year’s World Cup.
Thomas Tuchel
The Three Lions sit top of Group K after five successive victories, with 13 goals scored and none conceded. They need a maximum of five points from their last three games to book their spot at the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
England captain Kane has thrived since Tuchel took charge and his 74th international goal set the tone for the rout in Belgrade. Kane was impressed with the way England took the attack to Serbia right from the start. “I spoke a lot yesterday about how we wanted to play, being on the front foot and being aggressive, and I think we showed our level today,” he said. “We scored five and made it look comfortable. Serbia are a good team, and we made them look average tonight.”
Signs of improvement
Criticised for a series of lacklustre displays in his first five matches, Tuchel was relieved to see England produce the kind of vibrant show he had promised after succeeding Gareth Southgate.
“We’ve only had three weeks of training and that’s normally half a pre-season. It takes time and in between there are weeks of pause. Today is a statement victory against a difficult opponent in a difficult environment. There was no negative attitude on the pitch. It was teamwork in it’s purest form. Then we played football to a high level. The players did excellent. The credit goes to them, they did amazing. That’s the bar,” Tuchel said.
Meanwhile, Norway produced a 11-1 thumping of Moldova to make it five wins from five in Group I. Haaland was the star of the show, scoring a first-half hat-trick before nodding in his fourth goal not long after the restart.
Portugal, France win
Portugal clinched a 3-2 win over Hungary at the Puskas Arena, backing up their opening Group F victory, 5-0 against Armenia last week. Barnabas Varga gave the home side the lead before Bernardo Silva’s leveller for Portugal. Cristiano Ronaldo netted a record-extending 141st international goal with a spot-kick just before the hour.
France held on with 10 men to beat Iceland 2-1 after coming from behind thanks to a goal and assist from Mbappe.
Iceland took a surprise lead when Michael Olise gave away the ball in his own penalty area and Andri Gudjohnsen pounced on it to score.
Mbappe finally got France into the game when he converted a penalty just before halftime after being shoved by Mikael Anderson. Mbappe led a break for the second goal and set up Bradley Barcola to score in the 62nd minute.
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