Man of the moment Harry Kane scored just moments into his international debut to seal a 4-0 win for England against Lithuania at Wembley in Euro 2016 qualifying on Friday.
The Tottenham Hotspur striker was called up by Roy Hodgson having scored 29 goals for his club this season, and he was brought on for captain Wayne Rooney in the 71st minute of the qualifying Group E fixture with England leading 3-0.
Within two minutes, the 21-year-old had his first goal for his country, heading home from a Raheem Sterling cross at the back post.
Photo: AFP
Before that, Rooney opened the scoring early on with his 47th international goal, two shy of Bobby Charlton’s England record.
Danny Welbeck was then credited with the second goal just before the break, although the ball took a crucial deflection off Lithuania captain Tadas Kijanskas before going in.
Before setting up Kane’s goal, Liverpool winger Sterling claimed his first in an England shirt too, as Hodgson’s side made it five wins from five.
“I dreamed of this and it’s just a bit of a blur at the moment,” Kane told ITV. “It’s the best moment of my career. To represent my country at senior level is the top and hopefully I can continue to keep doing it.”
Halfway through the campaign to qualify for next year’s finals in France, England are six points clear of both Slovenia and Switzerland at the top of the section.
Switzerland eased to a 3-0 win at home to Estonia with Fabian Schaer, Granit Xhaka and Haris Seferovic all on target.
Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund’s Kevin Kampl was one of a half-dozen different scorers in Slovenia’s 6-0 hammering of hapless San Marino.
Reigning European champions Spain took an important step toward qualifying from Group C with a 1-0 victory at home to Ukraine in Seville.
Alvaro Morata of Juventus was handed a start up front in the absence of injured Chelsea star Diego Costa and took advantage to score his first international goal in the 28th minute after being set up by Koke.
Spain were still not entirely convincing, but they could and probably should have won by more goals.
However, Sergio Ramos, on the ground where he first made his name with Sevilla a decade ago, headed against the woodwork from a David Silva free-kick and only a great Andriy Pyatov save stopped substitute Santi Cazorla making it 2-0 after a one-two with Isco.
“In the first half we played well and we had chances,” Spain coach Vicente del Bosque said. “In the second we had a few openings, but we found it difficult to break them down. The second half left me with a bad taste in my mouth.”
Del Bosque’s side are now clear in second place in Group C, although they remain three points behind Slovakia, who won 3-0 at home to Luxembourg for a fifth win from five outings.
Elsewhere in Group C, Belarus claimed their first victory of the campaign, 2-1 in Macedonia.
Austria top Group G with 13 points after a 5-0 win in Liechtenstein, with Sweden four points behind in second.
Sweden won 2-0 in Moldova with captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic scoring a second-half brace, including a late penalty.
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