Right, I’m off. It’s been a blast. England are World Cup-bound, and anything can happen when they get there. If they did nothing else today they inspired a few dreams – if only because they provoked sleep. Bye!
Before I go, here’s a match report for you:
Updated
Gareth Southgate has had a chat:
We haven’t scored the number of goals we’d like to. But we wanted to try something, and we’ve picked a team that I think [had] some encouraging performances from players that have come in. A little bit of quality in the final third was what was missing. I think the packed defence, we were just a fraction off on some of the passes, and on that surface running at people doesn’t work, you’ve got to play quick one-twos. The games we have next month [against Germany and Brazil] will be different.
That’s a completely different challenge. We know the style of the game will be completely different. I have to say I think the application was really good today, the mentality was good given we’ve already qualified, and I think the average age was about 23. So lots for me to take away and think about.
I think you’ve got to put today into context. We made seven players, and that inevitably means it could be a bit disjointed. It was a new system and we’ve only had a couple of days to work on that, but for next month we should already be up and running with it.
In some aspects the back three worked. The goal came from Harry Maguire bringing the ball forward. We’re still a bit open on the counter-attack, and maybe took false positions up at times.
And finally, on Harry Kane’s captaincy:
Importantly, he’s scoring goals for us and he’s leading from the front. We need that leadership through the team. He’s certainly impressed me with everything he’s done.
In other World Cup news, Northern Ireland have guaranteed a play-off place, and Poland have booked their place in Russia by beating Montenegro 4-2.
Kane’s point about shooting when it’s better to pass is key, I think. It’s the easy option, but random snap-shots from 18+ yards rarely end up in the net. I think England miss Lallana, one player who loves a bit of penalty-area interplay.
Some Harrys have spoken, first Harry Kane:
It wasn’t a fantastic performance. It was a solid one. They didn’t create many chances. We had a few. But it’s a win to finish off the group. It’s been a good campaign for us and now we move on. Maybe we had shots when we didn’t need to, maybe looking for more passes. It was a difficult surface but we had to do better.
And then Harry Winks:
It’s been a dream week for me. To be called up into the seniors was fantastic. I nearly scored. The keeper made a great save off my left foot, if that had gone in it would have been brilliant. I was quite surprised when I got the call to step in, but obviously I’m happy to step in. It was brilliant for me, yeah.
Meanwhile the game in Slovenia is over, and Scotland have drawn 2-2 and will not be at the World Cup. They finish third in Group F, behind Slovakia on goal difference.
Final score: Lithuania 0-1 England
90+3 mins: The final whistle blows on England’s qualifying campaign, and the Group F table looks very handsome indeed if you’re an Englishman. Sadly, you’d have more fun gazing at that than the actual team.
Updated
90+2 mins: It’s hoisted into the area, and headed back out again by Kane.
90+2 mins: Lithuania have a free kick on the right, 10 yards into England’s half, and it might be the last action of the night.
90+1 mins: Into the first of two stoppage-time minutes, and Sturridge slams a shot from eight yards out into a defender when the goal beckoned.
89 mins: Scotland have scored an equaliser, and have two minutes plus stoppage time to score a play-off-qualifying winner.
87 mins: England haven’t attacked particularly well, or defended particularly well. Still, they’re winning, and they have tried out a modified if underwhelming shape. They might have been winning by more had Sturridge not just flicked his header from Lingard’s cross, which was just a fraction too high, wide.
85 mins: “With apologies to Ted Striker, it looks like I picked a hell of a day to give up not watching International football,” writes Damian Clarke. Deciding that a meaningless fixture between England and Lithuania is the unmissable occasion you’ve been waiting for shows a contrary side to your character, so perhaps you’re contrary enough to be enjoying it.
84 mins: Great chance for Lithuania! A flick-on finds Matulevičius running free into the area, but his shot is straight at Butland.
82 mins: Kane, Sturridge and Lingard link up nicely, before Sturridge hoots wide from the edge of the area.
80 mins: Dele Alli is walking slowly off, and Jesse Lingard is preparing to come on.
77 mins: Even by England’s standards, this game has been unusually dull.
76 mins: Lithuania’s first substitution sees Sernas go off and Matulevicius come on.
74 mins: Slovenia have scored again and lead 2-1. Scotland must score at least twice in the last 15-or-so minutes or they’re out!
73 mins: England make a substitution, bringing Sturridge on for Rashford.
72 mins: Kane shoots wide from just outside the area. Elsewhere in Group F it’s Slovenia 1-1 Scotland and Slovakia 3-0 Malta, and as it stands Slovakia are claiming a play-off place on goal difference.
70 mins: The interesting thing about this Harrylanche is that before Kane’s first cap in 2015 England had endured more than 60 Harryless years, since Harry Clarke’s one and only cap in 1954. It seemed England’s Harryful years were over, but suddenly they’re very emphatically back.
69 mins: Another save! Henderson’s cross from the right, Cresswell’s back-post header and it took a good diving stop to keep it out.
Updated
66 mins: Plus when England beat Ireland 4-0 at Molyneux in February 1903 Harries Johnson, Davis and the excellently-named Harry Hadley were all in the line-up. So it basically happens all the time.
64 mins: I have an answer to the trivia question, and it is no! When England lost 3-2 to Scotland at Bramall Lane on 10 March 1883 Harry Swepstone, Harry Goodhart and Harry Cursham were all in the team.
63 mins: Nice chance for Lithuania! A pass into the box, a backheeled set-up, and Semas blasts a left-footed shot over the bar from 15 yards. That’s certainly their finest attacking move, and possibly the best of the game.
59 mins: England have a cross, which is cleared, and then work the ball to the left for another cross, which is also cleared. Still, they’re getting it into the mixer, which is something.
55 mins: And a save at the other end! Lithuania break, and though Keane reaches the low cross first he sidefoots it towards the corner of his own goal, and Butland does well to push it wide.
53 mins: Save! Winks gets a spot of luck, volleying a shot into his own ankle and seeing the ball rebound handily back into his path before jinking nicely to earn himself space for another shot and then spearing a left-footed effort goalwards from 15 yards, but Setkus gets two hands to it.
Updated
51 mins: Sernas spins and slams a left-foot shot high from 25 yards.
49 mins: I’m working on an answer to this. I can confirm that though there have now been 31 international Harries, few have had England careers of any note. Harry Hibbs, with 25 caps, is the all-time most-capped Harry though Kane is only two behind.
@Simon_Burnton Quick trivia question, is this the most “Harry’s” to ever start in and England team?
— David McCabe (@dmc5007) October 8, 2017
Updated
46 mins: The second half has begun.
The players are back out! More football on its way!
It has been pretty unexceptional. There have been a few shots, and of course a penalty, but basically no actual proper genuine certified chances. But it’s a results-based business, etc and so forth. “Presumably the thing behind England’s goal is to remind defenders to pay at-tent-ion to their marqueeng,” writes Robin Hazlehurst.
Half time: Lithuania 0-1 England
45+2 mins: That’s all for now. England have dominated, they have scored, but they haven’t really thrilled.
45+1 mins: There’ll be a minute or so of stoppage time.
45 mins: Cemych shoots low from just outside the area, the ball going just wide. It looked to me like Butland got a fingertip to it, but the referee disagreed.
42 mins: Andriuskevicius executes an excellently-timed tackle on Rashford, but the England player also takes a thwack to the ankle and is now receiving treatment to it.
41 mins: This is extremely one-sided, though England are yet to create a really good goalscoring opportunity from open play.
38 mins: Rashford gets to the byline, executes a turn that sends a sliding defender screaming off the pitch, turns again past another, and then shoots across goal. Setkus saves it, though.
34 mins: Rashford is sent scurrying down the right (he’s back there again), and he tries to roll the ball across to Kane only for a defender to slide across and poke it behind. The corner is cleared.
33 mins: Alli is now on the right, and Rashford more lefty. Meanwhile Scotland have taken the lead in Slovenia – more details here:
30 mins: The penalty hit the post on its way in, and not lightly either. Had it gone as much as an inch further leftwards it would have come back out. This makes the penalty either better or worse, depending which side your bread’s buttered.
15 - Harry Kane has scored 15 goals in his last 10 matches in all competitions for club and country. Flourishing. pic.twitter.com/umy4kBorGm
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 8, 2017
29 mins: Here’s some blurry footage of the penalty courtesy of the Lithuanian FA:
#WCQ: @ltfutbolas - @England 0:1 pic.twitter.com/TtD4QuQE81
— Lithuania FF (@ltfutbolas) October 8, 2017
28 mins: GOAL! Lithuania 0-1 England (Kane pen, 28 mins)
The penalty flies low, hard and right into the left-hand corner, and though Setkus went the right way, he had no chance.
Updated
27 mins: It wasn’t a terrible tackle – Alli and Verbickas went for the same ball and when the Englishman got there first, Verbickas’s boot had nowhere to go but into his opponent.
26 mins: England have a penalty! Dele Alli was taken out, and the referee points to the spot without delay!
25 mins: Chance for England! A free-kick is kind-of-cleared, miskicked, bounces about a bit and suddenly drops to the feet of Keane, on the edge of the area, but his low shot goes wide.
24 mins: Zalgiris, currently top of the Lithuanian league table, play their home games here. When the gaffer demanded a marquee signing, he didn’t expect the board to take the request so literally.
22 mins: Curiously, behind one of the goals there is a small marquee.
History made in Vilnius tonight, with England defending a small wedding reception for the first time. pic.twitter.com/Wb98KoBuN6
— Adam Hurrey (@FootballCliches) October 8, 2017
19 mins: Now Lithuania win a corner, which turns out to be exceptionally high and loopy and prompts some extended head tennis and then, at the end of it all, a volley from Verbickas that Butland saves with ease.
16 mins: England have had 65% of possession in the first quarter-hour, a statistic they are currently burnishing by playing it at length around the back three.
14 mins: Sartorial update: “As well as the dubious blazer pocket, it is painfully obvious that Southgate’s jacket simply doesn’t fit, being far too big for him,” sniffs Jay Collins. “I’m not sure if there is a symbolic meaning there somewhere. It is also difficult to have much faith in the judgement of a man who thinks that blue suit plus big brown leather belt is a good look.” Does he want a black belt, then? Or a slimmer brown belt?Blue-on-blue embroider, but I’m not good on these little details.
13 mins: Winks seizes upon a poor defensive header and pulls back to Alli, who dallies a moment too long on the edge of the area and is dispossessed.
11 mins: Lithuania go close! It’s a lovely low cross from the left, Maguire slips and Sernas, granted precious space inside the penalty area, flicks the ball just wide of the near post!
8 mins: Harry Kane shoots wide from 20 yards. He insists there was a deflection, but the referee is having none of it.
Updated
5 mins: It’s a decent corner, but somehow missed by everyone in the middle. Cresswell picks it up on the left and crosses, and it looks very much like the ball will dip onto Maguire’s forehead, six yards out, until it unexpectedly doesn’t. A pesky defender must have got a touch on it.
5 mins: Trippier’s cross is headed behind, and England have their first corner. Rashford will take it.
4 mins: England start with Rashford unexpectedly on the right of the front three, and Alli on the left.
2 mins: The night’s first shot comes from the left boot of Novikovas, who strikes over the bar from 25 yards or so.
1 min: They’re off! Lithuania get the game started, on a jade green pitch that looks like, and indeed is, a carpet.
The players are out, the anthems have been sung, and it’s still raining! Let’s (watch other people) play football!
Gareth Southgate speaks! Specifically, he speaks about the switch to a back three and his decision to give Harry Winks, only an occasional presence in Tottenham’s team in the Premier League, a full international debut:
We’ve looked in the summer at what our best system would be moving forward. We felt 4-2-3-1 for qualifying got us an extra attacking player on the pitch, but we wanted to look at something different. I think we’ve got to pass the ball better, we’ve got to keep possession. Our connections have been better when we played this system, and also when we lost the ball the other night we were wide open on the counter-attack and we need to be better. Harry Winks is a very good passer of the ball. It’s a bit early for him, but it’s a great opportunity to look at him and I think it’s a good game for him to come into.
Writing as someone employed to type vaguely immediate text-based updates of this match, I’m hoping Vytautas Andriuškevičius has a quiet game.
Here’s our piece on Zelenogorsk, which will be England’s home from home for a couple of weeks (or more, you never know) next summer.
It does look genuinely miserable over in Vilnius, weather-wise:
Vilnius weather latest:
Going to be a tough night for the fans here in Vilnius. Pouring down and no cover in the stadium.
— Phil McNulty (@philmcnulty) October 8, 2017
It’s forecast to rain for the next hour or so, but should have stopped by 9pm local time, or within the next two-and-a-half hours.
Updated
“That blue embroidery on blue jacket makes it look like Southgate has put his jacket on inside out and not noticed,” suggests Adam Griffiths. But if the jacket was inside out we couldn’t see the pocket at all. It does look like the pocket has been sewn on the wrong ray round.
Here’s the Lithuania side, and indeed both teams in full:
Lithuania: Setkus, Andriuskevicius, Girdvainis, Zulpa, Linas Klimavicius, Borovskij, Slivka, Verbickas, Novikovas, Sernas, Cernych. Subs: Zubas, Freidgeimas, Kijanskas, Mikuckis, Silenas, Vaitkunas, Matulevicius, Chvedukas, Papsys, Spalvis, Valskis, Cerniauskas.
England: Butland, Keane, Stones, Maguire, Trippier, Winks, Henderson, Cresswell, Alli, Kane, Rashford. Subs: Pickford, Forster, Smalling, Walker, Cahill, Dier, Livermore, Defoe, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Sturridge, Sterling, Lingard.
Referee: Orel Grinfeld (Israel)
Starting IX vs. @England: Setkus Andriuskevicius Klimavicius Girdvainis Borovskij Zulpa Slivka Verbickas Cernych Novikovas Sernas pic.twitter.com/nlNcbiWuJ2
— Lithuania FF (@ltfutbolas) October 8, 2017
Exclusive: what the Conservative party conference lettering-fixer did next:
What’s your thinking on the blue-on-blue embroidery going on here? I know this has been Southgate’s matchday blazer of choice for months, but I still haven’t come to terms with it.
The England team has been announced, and Harries Maguire and Winks both make their debuts. There are seven changes in all:
Here's how the #ThreeLions will line up tonight! 📋 pic.twitter.com/KfGJpw8IYK
— England (@England) October 8, 2017
Hello world!
So it ends, for England at least, who head to Lithuania for the final match of another successful qualifying campaign with top spot in Group F already sewn up. It’s all very familiar, coming as the match does just four days before the second anniversary of England’s only previous visit to Lithuania, in the last match of Euro 2016 qualifying, when the visitors had top spot in Group E already sewn up.
A quick perusal of the Lithuanian press reveals that the England team is staying, as they did in 2015, at the Kempinski hotel in Vilnius, which looks lovely, has some excellent reviews on Tripadvisor and offers guests a variety of entertainment options including a luxury spa, pool, and “an exclusive time in one of the best cheese houses in Lithuania”. “Among the team’s requirements are detailed instructions for the food required immediately after the match,” reports Irytas. “The menu includes fast food. As everywhere, players love hamburgers and tortillas, while coaches will eat more seriously. A spokesman for the Lithuania Football Federation said that while the English team’s requirements were higher than the likes of Slovenia or Malta, they were not too demanding.”
Talking of Malta, after a 1-1 draw in Ta’ Qali on Thursday there were some heated confrontations between Lithuania’s fans and players. “The mini-conflict after the game was resolved,” Edgaras Jankauskas, the manager, reported. “The players talked with the fans. I think they saw that we fought, we tried to win, but luck was not on our side. I think everything is now fine.”
In other news, having watched England romp to a 4-0 win over 10-man (boy? Youth?) Chile earlier today in their opening match at the Under-17 World Cup I can report that it was a lot more fun than watching the seniors in major competitions has ever been. Still, there’s always next year, right?
Here’s the England team practising their diving in training yesterday.
Simon will be here shortly. In the meantime, read Gareth Southgate’s motivational thoughts on his England side:
Gareth Southgate has claimed no one in his squad can yet consider himself a “big player” but believes England are hungry to prove their quality before next summer’s World Cup as they seek to repair the relationship with a disillusioned fanbase.
England go into Sunday’s final Group F game against Lithuania with qualification for the tournament in Russia already secured and the management intent upon experimenting. While a core of the team who defeated Slovenia on Thursday will be retained, Southgate will employ three at the back, recall Dele Alli after suspension and the Stoke City goalkeeper, Jack Butland, will start a competitive international for the first time in a little under two years.
Southgate has acknowledged the disconnect between his team and supporters, whose patience has been tested by an uninspiring qualification campaign and stodgy recent performances. Yet, in defending his players, he sought to put expectations into perspective.
