Andorra 0, England 5 (World Cup Qualifier)
A second string England easily won 5-0 in Andorra to keep up the pace at the top of their World Cup qualifying group.
Embed from Getty ImagesGoals by Ben Chilwell, Bukayo Saka, Tammy Abraham, James Ward-Prowse, and Jack Grealish – who opened his account for the national team – did the damage as England went on the rampage.
And Southgate will be impressed by the form shown by Jadon Sancho whose pace terrorised the Andorrans while Phil Foden pulled the strings in a hugely effective performance from midfield.
Thanks to Albania’s winner against Hungary, England can’t book their place at the World Cup finals in Qatar with a win over the Magyars at Wembley but they have now recorded 28 consecutive unbeaten World Cup qualifiers and kept a 12th clean sheet in 2021 – 1 more than they managed in 1966.
England boss Gareth Southgate was very satisfied with a job well done against a side who were content to sit deep and try to disrupt England.
He said: “Andorra were a specific kind of challenge, we picked a team to take that challenge on.
“The link play from midfield and application of the players were excellent.
“We know these kinds of defences so we used diagonal runs from wide by Ben Chilwell and balls over the top by Phil Foden.
“Sam Johnstone had a bright piece of play to set up Jack Grealish and Chilwell got a great goal after a tough time in the summer [at the European Championships].”
Southgate named the three players who were given late calls to the England squad in the team: Chilwell, Ward-Prowse, and Abraham started as did in-form Foden and John Stones who has yet to feature for Manchester City this season.
They were joined in the side, which was captained by Kieron Trippier for only the second time, by out-of-sorts United winger Jadon Sancho and out of favour attacker Reds midfielder Jesse Lingard.
Lingard and Foden payed as attacking midfielders in a 4-3-3 as Gareth Southgate went for a more attacking line-up in Andorra.
Jadon Sancho and Phil Foden pick Andorra apart in first half
Only Stones remained from the side that drew 1-1 in Poland in a first for the senior England team as the match was overseen by a full team of female officials led by Ukrainian referee Kateryna Monzul.
Conor Coady headed wide from a Ward-Prowse free kick after 3 minutes as England started on the front foot against the massed defence of their hosts with the lion’s share of the possession.
But Andorra were setting out to frustrate once again and they deployed the same spoiling tactics and gave extra attention to Foden who was orchestrating matters from a deeper midfield role.
With space at a premium, Abraham failed to capitalise on a Sancho cross after England beat the Andorra press before Chilwell headed a Foden cross wide.
Foden’s ball forward found Sancho and his back heel fell to Chilwell who rammed the ball home after 17 minutes only for the offside flag to be raised for Sancho’s shoulder.
A lengthy VAR check finally saw the goal confirmed and Chilwell could finally celebrate his first ever goal for England.
Sancho picked out Abraham but his shot was blocked as England looked to extend their lead, instead racking up the corners.
Christian Garcia was replaced after just half an hour following a hamstring strain and was replaced by 41 year old Ildefons Lima who was himself to go off with injury after Andorra were run ragged by England.
Bukayo Saka rattled the ball into the back of the net after getting on the end of another Foden ball forward, beating his man, and then finishing past the Josep Gomes for his third England goal.
Tammy Abraham was having an off night but he kept getting the ammunition from Foden and Sancho who were linking up well.
The on-loan Roma striker blazed over and was tackled just before he pulled the trigger on a great square pass by Sancho.
But he finally got on the scoresheet after 59 minutes when he beat the offside trap and poked home Sancho’s in swinging cross from the left for his second England goal – and the first scored by an Italian affiliated player since David Platt (who was at Sampdoria) against Sweden in 1995.
Fikayo Tomori replaced Stones immediately afterwards with the game effectively safe and Southgate made two more changes after 72 minutes, bringing on Mason Mount and Jack Grealish and resting both Lingard and Sancho.
And Grealish won a spot kick with 13 minutes to go after he was brought down by a poor challenge.
James Ward-Prowse stepped up and but his spot kick was saved by Gomes but the Southampton man tucked in the rebound to notch his second goal for England to spare his blushes.
Sam Johnstone made a late save from Cucu who was clearly offside before Grealish twisted and turned his way to his first England goal in his 16th appearance after a massive throw into the Andorra half by Johnstone released him for a shot inside the near post as England saw out a comfortable win.
GOALS – Andorra 0, England 5 (World Cup Qualifier)
Andorra 0, England 1: 17. Ben Chilwell opened his England account with a confident strike after Jadon Sancho back heeled a clever ball forward by Phil Foden into his path.
Andorra 0, England 2: 40. Bukayo Saka rammed the ball into the roof of the net after latching onto a great ball forward from Phil Foden
Andorra 0, England 3: 59. Jadon Sancho laid on a great cross from the left which Tammy Abraham got on the end of after timing his run to beat the offside trap.
Andorra 0, England 4: 78. James Ward-Prowse tucked away the rebound after he saw his own penalty saved by Josep Gomes.
Andorra 0, England 5: 86. Jack Grealish hit England’s fifth with a solo run past two Andorra defenders before slotting inside the near post following a big throw out from his own area by Sam Johnstone.
MATCH STATS – Andorra 0, England 5 (World Cup Qualifier)
England: Johnstone, Trippier (C), Stones (Tomori 60), Coady, Chilwell, Ward-Prowse, Foden, Sancho (Grealish 72), Lingard (Mount 72), Saka, Abraham (Watkins 80)
England subs not used: Ramsdale, Pickford, Walker, Henderson, Mings, Rice, Sterling, Kane
Bookings: Stones 40 (foul on Cristian Martinez); Sancho 45+1 (kicking the ball away); Coady 86
Goals: Chilwell 17; Saka 40; Abraham 59; Ward-Prowse 78; Grealish 86
Referee: Kateryna Monzul