A lacklustre England laboured to a 1-0 away win against Andorra to maintain their 100% start to World Cup qualification campaign with captain Harry Kane‘s second-half goal sparing their blushes on Saturday.
On a sultry afternoon in Barcelona, Kane’s scrambled effort shortly after the interval was all that separated Thomas Tuchel’s team of Premier League household names with the side 173rd in the world rankings.
As expected, England dominated possession but were short of the quality expected with only Chelsea winger Noni Madueke managing to impress in an instantly forgettable match.
England secured the win, however, and sit comfortably top of Group K with three wins from three.
“It wasn’t a great performance and I don’t think many people will remember this one,” Kane, whose goal was the 450th of his career for club and country, told ITV Sport.
“It was a dry pitch, similar to next year at the World Cup so we will go away and analyse it. We weren’t good enough on the ball but we take the three points and move on.”
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England are expected to be one of the favourites for next year’s World Cup and while it is difficult to read too much in to a turgid display against a defence-minded Andorra, head coach Tuchel will know big improvements must be made.
In six previous games against Andorra, England had scored 25 goals without reply. But even after they eventually went ahead on Saturday there was no sense the floodgates would open.
If anything, Andorra actually created a couple of chances to heap real embarrassment on their visitors.
England’s build-up play was pedestrian throughout and only Madueke garnished his reputation.
He tested Andorra goalkeeper Iker Alvarez with one curling shot and set up a couple of other chances before halftime, one for Jude Bellingham who looked off the pace.
Kane wasted England’s best chance in the first half, shooting wide from close range after another dangerous ball across the area by Madueke.
If anyone was going to break the stalemate it was likely to be Kane and he finally did so in the 50th minute, stabbing a shot high into the net after his initial effort was saved and Madueke turned the rebound back across goal.
