After an international break which saw England score 15 goals across two games, here’s three things that we learned during the final round of internationals of the year.
Harry Kane will be England’s highest ever scorer
Going into the international break, Harry Kane was on 41 England goals, an impressive feat for any footballer.
There was some calls for other strikers to get a chance to lead the line for the Three Lions due to Kane’s form (or lack of) for Tottenham, but Gareth Southgate stuck with his main man, who rewarded him with seven goals across two games.
Scoring the ‘prefect hat trick’ inside the first 45 minutes against Albania, Kane moved to 44 England goals. But he wasn’t done there.
Captain Kane came good as he netted four against San Marino. Now on 48 goals in just 67 appearances, Kane has moved level with Gary Lineker who took 80 games to reach the same milestone.
Only five goals away from equalling Wayne Rooney’s record of 53, there is no doubt he will one day smash the record.
Gareth Southgate deserves more praise
Gareth Southgate has always had his critics, many claiming that he plays too much ‘safe’ football for the amount of attacking talent at his disposal.
Even after getting to a World Cup semi final and the final of Euro 2020, which he only lost on penalties.
Going into the game against Albania, people took to social media to have their say about playing two ‘holding midfielders’ as well as three central defenders.
As soon as the game kicked off, England played some of the best football that they have played in a long time. 45 minutes later England were deservedly 4-0 and it could easily have been more.
Qualifying needs to change
Each and every time qualifying for a tournament comes around its always the same.
The big nations stroll through the group without breaking a sweat, and the smaller nations don’t have a chance of qualifying.
If England scoring 10 goals against San Marino and Germany scoring nine against Litchensutein isn’t a cry out for change then I don’t know what is.
Take cricket for example, the top teams based of ICC rankings automatically qualify for the tournament, where as smaller nations only play each other in qualifying. This gives teams such as Scotland, Ireland and Zambia a realistic chance to qualify.
If FIFA and UEFA could come up with something similar to this then it would make qualifying exiting for the smaller nations, and gives the worlds best a chance to test themselves against one another.
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