It wasn’t thrilling. It wasn’t much of a spectacle. There must be broader concerns about the diminution of the Euro qualifiers as a spectacle since the expansions of the finals. Not that football has ever shown much inclination to worry about such matters, but there probably should be qualms as well about how many central and eastern European sides seem simultaneously to have suffered such a decline. But for England the lack of drama in Saturday’s 4-0 win over Bulgaria is itself an indication of how positive the present situation is for them.
There are limits to what can be learned from encounters with such limited opponents, and being able to swat aside teams such as Bulgaria, as Harry Kane acknowledged, has very little bearing on whether England might be able to win a quarter- or semi‑final next summer. But then, a lot of international football is played against moderate sides packing men behind the ball and there have been plenty of occasions in the past when England have not dispatched them with such ease.
There may not have been much sense of jeopardy at Wembley on Saturday, but neither was this the sort of slog that qualifiers so often have been. There is a lightness and a freshness about Gareth Southgate’s England, a technical quality, a confidence and a willingness to take players on that means even against dogged opponents there is always a feeling a mistake is just around the corner.
The solidity of the defence remains open to question – Bulgaria had only a couple of chances but that is troubling given how rarely they got into England’s half – but this was always going to be a day about the forward line, and that was very promising indeed. Southgate admitted Bulgaria’s deep-lying 5-4-1 had caused England problems and that his side hadn’t moved the ball quickly enough but, still, there was never that sense of mounting frustration that used to be so characteristic of Wembley.
There was perhaps some surprise that Marcus Rashford, who has not been at his best for Manchester United this season, started ahead of Jadon Sancho on the left, but Rashford is a different player for England. Almost uniquely in the modern era, the England shirt seems to weigh less heavily on him than his club shirt does. Without the same responsibilities that burden him at United, he is inventive and direct, the sudden cutback that led to him being brought down for the first penalty one of a number he produced.
On the other flank, Raheem Sterling is slighter, defter and quicker. There may still be slight doubts about his decision-making under pressure and, as Southgate said, he probably should have scored more than the one goal he did manage, but he now has seven in his last seven internationals. Even aside from that, his relentlessness and the rapidity of his feet were far too much for the left side of Bulgaria’s defence. Vasil Bozhikov, gamely trying to offer support to the left‑back, Anton Nedyalkov, had looked discombobulated long before a stray pass from the goalkeeper, Plamen Iliev, allowed Sterling, tirelessly leading the press, to skip by him to recreate the most typical of Manchester City goals, cutting the ball back to the edge of the six-yard box for an oncoming centre-forward.
And then there’s Kane, who remains, even after 25 international goals, plus 183 at club level, a largely inexplicable phenomenon, something demonstrated by the way he only has to go two or three games without a goal for there to be anxiety about his form or supposed sluggishness. Kane himself spoke on Saturday of having the longest summer break he’s had for a while and being able to “refresh and recharge”.
Perhaps it is simply that he does not look especially graceful, that his paddling happens on the surface; but to have scored 208 senior goals by the age of 26, 25 goals in 40 internationals, means his efficacy cannot be in doubt. And it’s not even that he is selfish, or just a poacher. He can play up against a defender as a quasi-target man, but he also drops deep, creating space for the rapid wide men to burst through; this is a front three that works as a unit. Hard work, Southgate stressed, is the key: Kane spent 20 minutes on Friday practising penalties and the result is that he looks as certain to score from the spot as any England player probably ever has; already, only Frank Lampard has scored more.
It is entirely possible none of that will make any difference come the sharp end of next summer’s finals, but that is the problem with how modern international football is structured. For now, the best that can be said is that England are not making the heavy weather of qualifiers they often have, and that the potential of this forward line is obvious.
