Ollie Watkins scored on his debut as England cruised past San Marino to open their World Cup qualifying campaign with a 5-0 win at Wembley.
James Ward-Prowse opened the scoring on a night where England dominated the ball yet were wasteful when through on goal. The Southampton midfielder, making his fifth appearance for England, steered home from Ben Chilwell’s cross after 14 minutes.
England, who had played six matches against San Marino prior to Thursday night’s clash had won all of those with an aggregate score of 37-1. In fact, San Marino are the world’s lowest-ranked international side when you go by the FIFA rankings and were searching for their first ever win in the World Cup qualifiers – having lost 140 of their previous 143.
Just seven minutes later, Dominic Calvert-Lewin then stooped lowest to guide Reece James’ cross past San Marino keeper Elia Benedettini. Despite the scoreline Benedettini played well and made several excellent saves to deny Ward-Prowse, Chilwell and Jesse Lingard as well as others.
Mason Mount then capitalised on a poor piece of play from the visitors, whose team was comprised of graphic designers, bankers, and dentists among others, to play captain Raheem Sterling in. His quick feet gave him the chance to shoot and, via a deflection, it found the back of the net for his 150th career goal.
England continued to dominate after half-time
Southgate introduced four subs at half-time but the respective introductions of Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham, Kieran Trippier and Tyrone Mings seemed to sap England of the crispness of passing and tempo they’d subjected San Marino to in the first half.
Calvert-Lewin got his second of the night, and the fourth of his fledgling England career, when he concisely converted past Benedettini following a Lingard lay-off. He missed a couple of gilt-edged chances, but this performance will have helped consolidate his place in the side as Harry Kane’s understudy.
Lingard, in fine form since he linked up with England team-mate Declan Rice at West Ham on loan from Manchester United, looked desperate to get among the goals all night but had to settle for a single assist. He showed encouraging signs throughout but couldn’t find a way through.
Watkins though did manage to find a way through in a landmark moment for the Aston Villa striker. A neat one-two with Calvert-Lewin saw the substitute produce a fine finish into the bottom left-hand corner with seven minutes remaining.
England should have won this game by a far bigger margin and, given the fact that they enjoyed 85 per cent possession and 15 shots on target, Southgate will be disappointed to come away with just the five goals – especially given the importance of goal difference at the business end of the qualifiers.
The defence remained strong all night, conceding just two shots (none on target) and goalkeeper Nick Pope had little to do all evening. The most involved any of the three centre backs who played on the night got was when John Stones could only hook his attempt from six yards over the bar. Conor Coady was also presented with the captain’s armband for the second half following Sterling’s departure.
Ultimately, England won’t have learned a lot from this game and will only hope they are more clinical when they face sterner tests to come in the shape of Albania in Tirana on Sunday before Robert Lewandowski and Poland back at Wembley on Wednesday night.
