Captain Harry Kane scored again on Sunday as England made it two wins from two in UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying by beating Ukraine 2-0 at Wembley, while Cristiano Ronaldo extended his international goals record to 122 with a double as Portugal thrashed Luxembourg.
Kane, who broke Wayne Rooney’s all-time England goalscoring record earlier in the week, turned home his 55th international goal from Bukayo Saka’s cross in the 37th minute.
In-form Arsenal winger Saka all but ended Ukraine’s resistance three minutes later, turning from Jordan Henderson’s pass and curling a sublime strike from outside the area into the top corner.
Photo: Reuters
The victory takes England three points clear at the top of the early Group C table after winning in Italy for the first time since 1961 on Thursday.
“Two wins out of two is all we asked for at the start of the camp,” midfielder Jude Bellingham told Channel 4. “We’ve followed up a really good result in Italy with another one tonight, and when you do that, it feels rewarding.”
Gareth Southgate’s men produced an accomplished performance in their first home game since an agonizing FIFA World Cup quarter-final defeat by France in December last year.
Kane missed one great early chance before he gave England the lead.
Ukraine failed to muster a shot on target and Conor Gallagher, Harry Maguire and Jack Grealish all went close to netting a third for the hosts late on.
England, still waiting for a first major tournament title since 1966, return to qualifying action against Malta and North Macedonia in June.
The top two teams in each group automatically book a place in next year’s championship in Germany.
Ronaldo marked his record-breaking 197th international appearance earlier in the week with two goals against Liechtenstein, and repeated the trick as Portugal thumped Luxembourg 6-0.
The 38-year-old diverted in Nuno Mendes’ headed pass to give Roberto Martinez’s men a ninth-minute lead.
Goals from Joao Felix and Bernardo Silva put the game to bed inside 18 minutes, before Ronaldo slotted home his second from Bruno Fernandes’ through-ball in the 31st minute.
Ronaldo has now scored 11 goals against Luxembourg in his career.
Late strikes from substitutes Otavio and Rafael Leao, who also missed a penalty, rounded off a fine performance from Portugal who are already clear at the top of Group J.
“It’s important to play as a team, to open up the game with the ball,” said new Portugal coach Roberto Martinez, who has restored Ronaldo to the starting lineup after he was dropped during the FIFA World Cup.
“We work so the players understand what we want, and it’s been a good start, but we have to improve and work much more together,” Martinez said.
In other games on Sunday, it was:
Group C
‧?Malta 0, Italy 2
Group H
‧?Kazakhstan 3, Denmark 2
‧?Slovenia 2, San Marino 0
‧?Northern Ireland 0, Finland 1
Group J
‧?Liechtenstein 0, Iceland 7
‧?Slovakia 2, Bosnia and
Herzegovina 0
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