David Hytner was at Wembley ... and his report has landed. You know what to do: get clicking and enjoy. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
Gareth Southgate speaks to ITV, and he’s giving nothing away regarding any new contract. “The first half was fantastic, as well as we’ve played for a long time. It’s always hard to maintain that, but we were still professional in the second half. Unfortunately we couldn’t give the crowd more goals. We’re best when we have an edge. We didn’t produce what we should against Hungary and we wanted to put that right, and we had a game tonight to put us on the verge of qualification for the World Cup, simple as that. Harry Kane gave a brilliant centre forward’s performance tonight. His finishing was outstanding and his all-round game was excellent. My job is to get this team to a World Cup, and we can look at everything else after that.”
England’s captain and hat-trick hero Harry Kane, clutching the match ball, talks to ITV: “Incredible performance, really. The pressure was on us a little bit as we needed to get this result, coming off the back of the last game when we didn’t finish as we wanted to. Can’t credit the lads enough. It’s a great way to get closer to qualifying. Whenever you pull on an England shirt, you want to do everyone proud. Everyone was ready for this one. We came out on fire and got the three points. I could probably have had six on another night!” He also bigs up Gareth Southgate - “the lads love him” - and hopes that reports of a contract extension for the manager are accurate.
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Elsewhere in Group I ... Poland have won 4-1 in Andorra, keeping their very faint chances of winning the group alive, while Hungary have beaten San Marino 4-0 in Budapest. England, providing they avoid unthinkable humiliation in San Marino on Monday, are home and hosed, topping the group with 23 points. Poland are three points behind and praying for a miracle. Albania remain in third on 15 points.
FULL TIME: England 5-0 Albania
England would have taken this result at the start of the match. Albania would have grabbed it with both hands at half-time. You can’t quite file it under Both Teams Will Be Happy, but you get the general gist. England have effectively qualified automatically for the 2022 World Cup, as they only need a draw in San Marino on Monday to rubber-stamp their place at the finals.
90 min +1: Nothing’s happening in them.
90 min: There will be two added minutes.
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89 min: Grealish finds Bellingham on the edge of the D. He could shoot, but decides to lay off to Alexander-Arnold to his right. Alexander-Arnold aims for the bottom left, but his diagonal shot is blocked and cleared. Bellingham was probably better placed.
87 min: Laci chances a long-distance shot. Plenty of welly, but straight at Pickford.
86 min: Uzuni, who had that one-on-one chance when the score was still only 1-0, is replaced by Roshi.
85 min: Grealish shimmies down the inside-left channel and shoots. His shot pings off the back of Mihaj and out for a corner on the left. Grealish and Chilwell try to open up Albania with a quick exchange, but the ball ends up ballooning into the arms of Strakosha.
83 min: Henderson creams a long pass down the left for Abraham, who bustles free but is flagged offside.
81 min: England ping some triangles. Both teams happy to run down the clock, it would seem.
79 min: Smith-Rowe and Alexander-Arnold both find themselves immediately in the thick of it, probing down the right, ultimately to little effect. An obvious injection of fresh energy, though.
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77 min: Smith-Rowe comes on for his debut, a smile flickering around the edge of his mouth as he taps hands with the departing Sterling.
76 min: James is replaced by Alexander-Arnold. “It’s so unfair!” cries Dean Kinsella. “TAA is playing so incredibly well for Liverpool, but you just couldn’t drop James. Could one of them swap to the left? Chilwell is good, but not on the same level as those right backs.” Perhaps Gareth should give Steve Clarke a ring. He’s worked out his two-world-class-left-backs problem, successfully finding a way to field both Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney. If you’re good enough, anything is possible.
74 min: A lot of English possession, to little effect. Still plenty of noise in Wembley, though. Party time, with World Cup qualification as good as in the bag.
72 min: All a bit scrappy now, as you’d expect in the wake of a triple substitution. Speaking of which ... “The lad Bellingham is on to learn how to close out a 5-0 lead. Very useful.” Gary Naylor there, who may or may not be a fully paid-up member of the Gareth Southgate Fan Club.
70 min: James is back on, and quickly in the thick of it. Bellingham’s cute backflick sends him into space, just inside the box on the right. James launches a fierce shot intended for the top left, but always high and wide.
69 min: The stretchers come on, too, but happily both players are soon up on their feet again. James still looks a tad unsteady, though, and while Stones is good to continue, the doctors hold the Chelsea defender back for extra checks.
67 min: Stones and James stay down. On come the physios.
66 min: Cikalleshi crosses from the right. Laci attempts a Kane-esque bicycle kick. Stones and James clash heads as they crowd him out. Laci is booked for dangerous play, which seems a tad unfortunate as the England injuries were self-inflicted.
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65 min: Kane departs having broken Wayne Rooney’s all-time England record for goals in competitive matches with his 38th.
63 min: England make a triple change, just because they can. Kane, Foden and Phillips make way for Abraham, Grealish and Bellingham.
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61 min: A period of sterile Albanian possession. The crowd amuse themselves with a Mexican wave.
59 min: A long pass down the left nearly releases Hysaj. James races back to intercept. England continue to look extremely comfortable.
57 min: Dermaku sticks a leg across Kane and is fortunate not to see yellow. The referee’s pocket was in Toaster Mode during the first half, so this represents a change of tack.
56 min: James curls it to the far post. Maguire can’t meet it. Goal kick. Strakosha takes his sweet time in taking it, and you can’t really blame him.
55 min: Kane tricks his way down the right wing, drawing a clumsy foul from Dermaku. Free kick, and yet another chance to cause some havoc in the Albanian box.
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53 min: Sterling fights his way past Ismajli on the right and enters the box, only to slice wide of goal with only Strakosha to beat. He still had Ismajli on his shoulder, to be fair.
52 min: A bit of space for Kane down the inside-left channel. Kane drops a shoulder and looks for the top right. The ball sails off towards the North Circular.
51 min: Albania pass it around the back for a bit, and are now a couple of minutes closer to hometime.
49 min: So when Maguire scored the opener, he celebrated by cupping his ears, then putting his fingers in them. A rebuke to the criticism he’s been copping. ITV entertainer Roy Keane wasn’t impressed, to say the least, calling the gesture “embarrassing ... he’s been a disgrace for Manchester United.” Straight back at you, Harry.
47 min: Cikalleshi sends a speculative shot straight at Pickford, who gathers.
England get the second half underway. Albania have sent on Mihaj in place of Trashi, and Ramadani instead of Bajrami. “In 80s-comedy-with-John-Lithgow-news, England’s goals today (so far) have been scored by (two) Harrys and a Henderson,” writes IMDb procrastinator Andy ‘Not That One’ Flintoff.
Half-time entertainment.
HALF TIME: England 5-0 Albania
Gareth Southgate promised Wembley a performance, and he’s been as good as his word.
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GOAL! England 5-0 Albania (Kane 45 +1)
The corner’s hit deep. Kane, at the far post, powers a bicycle kick home from close range. Right peg, so that’s a perfect hat-trick. It took a deflection off Dermaku and over Strakosha, but there’s a fair chance it would have whistled home anyway.
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45 min +1: Sterling dinks a cross in from the left. Hysaj eyebrows away from Kane, only to nearly loop the ball into the top right. Corner. From which ...
45 min: Poor old Albania are desperate to hear the half-time whistle, but they’ll have to suffer two more minutes first.
43 min: James chases after a long pass down the right. Strakosha comes to the edge of his area to claim, just in time.
42 min: Another huge chance for Kane, Foden recycling possession down the right and backheeling for James, who whips in a cross. Kane dives and flashes a header inches wide of the bottom-left corner.
40 min: Sterling screams down the left, enters the box, and looks for Foden in the middle. Ismajli does well to read the danger, arriving in the nick of time to slice clear.
38 min: Kane is this close to completing his hat-trick, Sterling shovelling a diagonal pass, left to right, finding him inside the box. The captain screeches a shot across the face of goal and inches wide of the left-hand post. A perfect hat-trick - left foot, right foot, header, let’s not get too precious about it - was Kane’s for the taking.
37 min: What if Uzuni had kept his head on 15 minutes, huh? That gilt-edged chance seems an awfully long time ago now.
35 min: As good as England are playing, Albania are an absolute rabble. England could easily have had a penalty a few minutes ago, too, Sterling dribbling across the face of the box and refusing to go down upon being clipped. Anything could happen here.
GOAL! England 4-0 Albania (Kane 33)
You can’t keep a good man down, though. Sterling dribbles down the middle, then slips Kane into the box down the left. Kane, played onside by a way-too-deep Veseli, drops a shoulder to get past the lumbering Dermaku and smashes home from a tight-ish angle.
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32 min: Kane puts his foot through this one, though, curling towards the top right from the edge of the D. Strakosha tips round the post in unconventional style, the ball bouncing down and spinning away from danger, an accidental Gordon Banks. Nothing comes from the corner.
30 min: It really should be four. Foden and Sterling combine down the left, the latter rolling infield for Kane, who surely must score, ten yards out. The England captain goes for the clever finish, opening his body to sidefoot softly towards Henderson’s corner, but the decision allows Dermaku to block. Had he put his foot through that, it was surely another.
29 min: A long VAR check causes some consternation in the stand, but the goal’s good.
GOAL! England 3-0 Albania (Henderson 28)
This is a delightful goal. Henderson picks up the ball in a central position and dribbles towards the box. He one-twos with Kane to his right, takes a touch to his left, then swivels and steers a delicate dink across Strakosha and into the bottom right.
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27 min: Chilwell’s loose pass is snaffled by Cikalleshi, who hipshakes his way down the right, cuts into the England box, and bumbles a shot towards the bottom right. Easy for Pickford, even in these slippery conditions.
25 min: Ismajli is booked for cynically wrestling Sterling to the floor, as the Adam-Hirst-endorsed England winger threatens to break down the left wing.
24 min: A cute Kane backflick nearly releases Sterling down the inside-left channel. Not quite, but this is threatening to turn ugly for Albania, who are all over the shop. England appear to be in the mood for goals.
22 min: “That’s nice, England are doing the goals in the order of who needs them most,” writes Adam Hirst. “Next up will be Sterling, then.” We’re nearly in what-a-prediction territory, because here comes Sterling, daintily dribbling his way along the byline to the left of the Albanian goal. He beats two men but can’t sort his feet out to get a shot away.
21 min: Cikalleshi is booked for getting up in the referee’s grille. He’ll miss Albania’s final game, too. This has been a complete nightmare for Albania so far.
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19 min: Kane bombs down the middle of the park and slips Chilwell away down the left. Chilwell floats a cross towards Foden at the far post, but the ball’s too high and sails out for a goal kick. A few inches lower, and it would have been three.
GOAL! England 2-0 Albania (Kane 18)
This is too easy. James bursts his way down the inside-right channel before losing the ball. Henderson snatches it, one-twos with Foden, reaches the byline, and stands one up for Kane, who can’t miss from six yards, planting his header into the bottom left.
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17 min: It’s a miserable evening and a start to match for Albania, who have another man down injured. Kumbulla has pulled a hamstring. On comes Dermaku in his place.
15 min: Walker’s dreadful passback is latched onto by Uzuni, who tears clear on goal! Uzuni suffers a rush of blood to the noggin, though, smashing a poor shot straight at Pickford, who nevertheless parries well. A huge let-off for Walker.
13 min: It’s teeming down at Wembley, by the way.
12 min: Bare can’t continue. Laci comes on in his stead.
11 min: It could be two. Foden sashays down the middle of the park, reaches the edge of the D, and slashes over the bar. You’d expect the brilliant City midfielder to at least hit the target from there. Something of a surprise.
GOAL! England 1-0 Albania (Maguire 9)
Well this was easy. James curls a gorgeous free kick into the mixer. Maguire times his run from deep, meeting the dropping ball six yards out, and guides his header across Strakosha and into the right-hand side of the net.
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8 min: Kane is clattered from behind by Gjasula, who is booked for his clumsiness. He’ll miss the final game against Andorra. Free kick out on the right.
7 min: Bare is down, having hurt himself while challenging Sterling back there. On comes the trainer.
6 min: Trashi hook-tackles the ball away from James, who was hoping to tear clear down the right. That’s a fantastic challenge, and Albania clear their lines.
4 min: Sterling tries to nip between Bare and Kumbulla. He goes down just inside the box and claims a penalty. The referee considers it a fair pincer movement, and the ball is launched up the other end. Uzuni chases a long pass, and is clattered unceremoniously by Pickford, who comes racing out of his box to blooter clear.
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2 min: Henderson launches long in the hope of releasing Sterling. Nope. Here’s Mary Waltz: “’It’s not as if they win stuff.’ Roy, that’s exactly why he is so miserable.”
Some boos as England take the knee ... but only because the visitors forgot England’s pre-match protocol, kicking off with their opponents kneeling, too quick out of the blocks. Albania re-spot the ball and take the knee as well. Warm applause. Then the kick-off that counts. Here we go, then!
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A moment’s silence to remember the fallen. Wreaths are placed on the Wembley turf. Sir Geoff Hurst is also in attendance to lay down a shirt in memory of Ron Flowers. A poppy mosaic in the stand. The Last Post. RIP.
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The teams are out! England wear second-choice blue, while Albania sport their change strip of white. A rare old roar meets the players as they troop out of the tunnel. We’ll be off once the crowd rudely boo the Albanian national anthem. Yep, there they go. Where are our manners? “For God himself proclaim’d / Nations of the earth will be extinguished / And yet Albania will live / For thee, for thee, we fight.” Off in a couple of minutes!
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Roy Keane brings more light entertainment to LWT. “Harry Kane has to liven up. He’s got to look at himself and say: get over these disappointments. Listen, he plays for Spurs, he should be used to disappointment. It’s not as if they win stuff.” More comedy up next, with the latest episode of Mind Your Language.
Prime-time Friday evening on ITV with Gareth Southgate: “It’s brilliant that it’s hard to get a ticket now for our games, we’ve wanted that for a long time and we have to reward the crowd with a performance. We have players who are playing well with their clubs, in a formation they’re used to, so we want to be really aggressive and on the front foot. We have to press higher up the pitch, and be quicker moving the ball. We’ve got to go and play, and show what we’ve shown the last year or two. Harry Kane is fundamental to making this work, and it’s quite helpful to us that he’s been doing this the last couple of weeks with his club, so the transfer should be pretty straight forward for him.”
A big blow for Albania this evening. Their young superstar in waiting, Armando Broja, is out injured. The 20-year-old Slough-born striker has been doing well at Southampton, where he’s on loan from Chelsea, having already scored four goals in his first nine appearances for the south-coast club this season. His record for Albania is none too shabby, either, with three goals from ten appearances, two of those contributions securing 1-0 wins over Hungary during this qualification campaign.
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The Fiver was caught banging on about this match earlier today. Sign up now! Now! Now? Now!
Some sad news today with the passing of erstwhile England midfielder Ron Flowers. One of the stars of the legendary Wolverhampton Wanderers side of the 1950s, he scored England’s first-ever goal in the Euros, converted a couple of penalties at the 1962 World Cup in Chile, and would have got a game in the 1966 World Cup final had Jack Charlton not recovered from illness the morning of the game. Brian Glanville tells his story.
Gareth Southgate is set to put pen to paper on a new England deal. All things going well, it will see him take the reins not just in Qatar next winter but also at the Fußball-Europameisterschaft in 2024.
England have made five changes to the starting XI named for the 1-1 draw with Hungary. Reece James, Ben Chilwell, Harry Maguire, Kalvin Phillips and Jordan Henderson are back, replacing Luke Shaw, Declan Rice, Tyrone Mings, Jack Grealish and Mason Mount. Phil Foden and Raheem Sterling support Harry Kane up front.
The teams
England: Pickford, Walker, Maguire, Stones, James, Henderson, Phillips, Chilwell, Foden, Kane, Sterling.
Subs: Mings, Abraham, Ramsdale, Saka, Johnstone, Alexander-Arnold, Coady, Bellingham, Grealish, Smith-Rowe.
Albania: Strakosha, Ismajli, Kumbulla, Veseli, Hysaj, Bare, Gjasula, Bajrami, Trashi, Cikalleshi, Uzuni.
Subs: Berisha, Laci, Cekici, Roshi, Doka, Hoxhallari, Selmani, Mihaj, Balaj, Ramadani, Dermaku, Lenjani.
Referee: Felix Zwayer (Germany).
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Preamble
England’s all-time record against Albania is played five, won five. Goals for: 14. Goals against: one. Records are there to be broken, and runs are so easily snapped, but it would be something of a shock should England not at least get the point they need to effectively secure automatic qualification from Group I for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar (with the other three points they require as good as guaranteed with a final game in San Marino to come on Monday). Kick off at Wembley is at 7.45pm GMT. It’s on!
