England vs San Marino LIVE: World Cup qualifier result, final score and reaction tonight
Relive all the action as Gareth Southgate’s side secured their place at the 2022 World Cup
Harry Kane scored four goals in England’s 10-0 demolition of San Marino as Gareth Southgate’s side made official their place in next year’s World Cup finals in Qatar.
In truth England needed only a point against the world’s 210th and lowest-ranked footballing nation to seal top spot in Group I so the only real question was how many goals they would deliver to mark the occasion.
Kane duly filled his boots, following up his hat-trick in the 5-0 win against Albania on Friday with four goals before halftime, including two penalties, swelling his England tally to 48 to move joint third on the list alongside Gary Lineker.
Harry Maguire began the rout with a sixth-minute header and Filippo Fabbri scored an own goal before Kane took over to put England 6-0 ahead before halftime.
Emile Smith-Rowe marked his first England start with the seventh and even after Kane was substituted the punishment continued for San Marino who had Dante Rossi sent off for a second yellow card.
Tyrone Mings, substitute Tammy Abraham and Bukayo Saka all got on the scoresheet in a farcically one-sided match that did little for the reputation of international football.
San Marino 0 - 2 England
18 mins: Saka is England’s main threat so far. Tomassini, the Sammarinese right-back, has had a torrid time defending against him so far. Saka decides the play the ball back to the edge of the box this time and chips a pass into Bellingham. He brings the ball more central before hitting a low shot from outside the box and slipping during the attempt. Elia Benedettini makes an easy enough save for San Marino.
GOAL! San Marino 0 - 2 England (Fabbri OG, 15’)⚽️
15 mins: England double their lead! Maguire finds Saka with another lovely pass out to the wing and Saka brings it into the penalty area. He spins away from a challenge, cuts inside and hits a right-footed effort at goal. There’s a slight deflection that takes the ball towards Filippo Fabbri who sticks out a leg and guides the ball past his own goalkeeper into the back of the net. Saka has been credited with the goal but this one will probably end up as a Fabbri own goal.
San Marino 0 - 1 England
12 mins: San Marino put together their first attack with Adolfo Hirsch driving forward. The home side commit a few men to the attack but Hirsch loses possession and England break on the counter but don’t make full use of it.
The pitch seems quite slippery which is just causing a few minor problems when the players try to reach full sprinting speed.
San Marino 0 - 1 England
9 mins: Chance! England dilly-dally with the ball in midfield before a chipped pass from Bellingham frees Saka over on the left side. He flicks another nice cross into the area and almost reaches Emile Smith Rowe at the back post but the 21-year-old only gets a glancing touch on the ball and can’t turn it towards goal.
GOAL! San Marino 0 - 1 England (Maguire, 6’)⚽️
6 mins: Harry Maguire scores again! England win consecutive corners. Phil Foden delivers both with San Marino defending the first one well enough but the second is whipped in with a bit more pace. The cross flies over Jude Bellingham but Maguire is closing in behind him and meets the ball with another solid header to the far bottom corner. He’s got two goals in two games for England!
San Marino 0 - 0 England
3 mins: It’s not the quickest tempo we’ve seen England play at but they’re knocking the ball around confidently enough trying to utilise the wide areas. Bukayo Saka swings a cross in from the left wing but overhits it and Alexander-Arnold can’t catch up to it before it goes out of play.
San Marino 0 - 0 England
Kick off: All 22 players take the knee before San Marino get the ball rolling. England win possession in midfield before Harry Maguire sends a diagonal pass over to Bukayo Saka on the left wing. England work it quickly across the pitch but Trent Alexander-Arnold isn’t able to keep it in play on the right flank and San Marino have a throw in.
San Marino vs England
Here come the teams. Harry Kane leads out England, if he scores tonight he’ll have socred more goals in a calender year than any other England player.
Kick off is next...
Almost time for kick off
The warm-ups are over at the Stadio Olimpico di Serravalle. England need just one point to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.
Coady on Kane
England defender Conor Coady has been speaking about what it’s like to play alongside Harry Kane when playing for the national team and he had nothing but positives to for the the England captain. He said:
One of the best, first and foremost, I think he’s a brilliant captain and a fantastic person. I think when you come to England, the way he trains, he looks after himself, he prepares, he does everything to the highest ability that he can do so I think that’s the biggest thing I’d say about him, and then, I think his football does his talking for him.
“You see what he does for Spurs on a weekly basis, I’ve played against him quite a lot now and I can’t explain to you how tough it is, I’ll be honest.
“He’s one of the best strikers in the world and you see that when you come up against him but, like I said, it’s a pleasure to train with him here, just because I look at the way he prepares himself, he looks after his body to make sure he’s right for every single training session and it shows in the goals he scores so an incredible person and an incredible footballer as well.”
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