ENGLAND 7, NORTH MACEDONIA 0
Bukayo Saka scored a stunning first hat-trick as England maintained the perfect start to their Euro qualifying campaign.
The Arsenal youngster enhanced his growing reputation as England made it four wins out of four against North Macedonia at Old Trafford to remain top of Group C.
There was also a brace for Harry Kane and further goals from Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford in front of the Stretford End and a first England goal from Manchester City’s Kalvin Phillips.
After almost the opening half hour was goalless and lukewarm, England exploded to life scoring all seven goals in a devastating 44-minute spell.
Instead of coasting when three or four goals to the good, England were relentless throughout as they destroyed opponents who had drawn on their previous two visits to England in 2002 and 2006 for Euro qualifiers.
This time they didn’t manage a single goal attempt in the entire match such was England’s dominance at either end of the pitch as this was their biggest win since November 2019 when they beat Montenegro by the same score.
While it was an impressive all-round team performance, Saka stole the show with his second goal as good as any seen at Old Trafford for some time.
Saka, who was seen kissing the matchball, said: “It’s a feeling I can’t put into words. I can’t describe how I’m feeling right now. I’m so happy.”
Which was his favourite goal?
“I like the first one, but I’ll go for the second goal. Volley outside the box, top corner,” he continued.
“Tonight was a really special display. We went out with me and Rashy down the wings. Sharp, direct. They couldn’t handle us.
“It’s been a really long season. It’s the end of the season now. I couldn’t have ended it in a better way. Time to relax and have a break.
“Perfect end to the season. We’re really happy with the way the fans turned out and supported us.”
Southgate also praised Saka saying: “All the credit is with him. He works incredibly hard. He’s talented, he’s humble. He’s hugely popular with all the players and all the staff and I have to say his finishing has been like that all week. We weren’t surprised by the first one, that’s how he’s been all week, we hadn’t seen the second one coming!
Embed from Getty Images“I am delighted for him. He’s had a slightly sore Achilles and it’s another one where it would have been easy to pull out on the camp and miss out on one of the best nights of his life that I’m sure will live with him forever.
“It was worth going through it to see the joy on his face. It was an outstanding performance.”
Southgate was delighted with the display, adding: “Really pleasing. I thought there was a fabulous atmosphere in the stadium before the game and that gave everybody a huge lift.
“It was a brilliant night to play football. The weather was good, the pitch was immaculate, the crowd were buzzing.
“What pleased me the most was that every time we lost the ball the hunger to win it back really set the tone for the performance. Then the quality of the play was good, and the finishing was ruthless.
“For the players to have the mentality they have to work, at the late stage of this monster of all seasons, there was every excuse to do that and they’ve not done that.
“There were boys coming back from the biggest week of their lives professionally. We had boys who had two weeks on the beach and could have approached that differently but I think what we are trying to build was apparent for everyone tonight.”
Southgate was also surprised by the size of the victory.
“The scoreline was outrageous and we did not expect it to be like that. There was no evidence North Macedonia would suffer like that. It certainly did not look that way in the opening 20 minutes,” he said.
Southgate made three changes to the England team that defeated Malta 4-0 on Friday.
Manchester City duo Kyle Walker and John Stones came into defence in place of Kieran Trippier and Marc Guehi while Rashford replaced James Maddison in attack.
Darko Velkovski came in for Visar Musliu in North Macedonia’s only change from Friday’s 3-2 defeat by Ukraine.
Saka forced a save from Stole Dimitrivski with little more than one minute played.
That lively opening quickly subsided as the two teams cancelled out one another.
And a nasty clash of heads involving Kane and North Macedonian captain Stefan Ristovski saw both players needing lengthy treatment and the visitor leaving the field to have his head bandaged.
Kane clearly showed no ill effects as he finally broke the deadlock just short of the half hour.
United team-mates Rashford and Luke Shaw combined superbly down the left and the latter crossed for Kane to rifle home his 57th goal for England from eight yards at the far post.
It was the sixth successive game Kane had found the net for England, the third time he had achieved the goalscoring feat and he has scored at least once in 21 of his last 22 major tournament qualifying games.
England doubled their lead in the 38th minute following a fabulous passing move which ended with Walker crossing from the right for Saka to rifle an angled shot from six yards into the roof of the net, his 10th goal for England.
It ought to have been three shortly before the break when Rashford played a return pass with Harry Maguire only to be denied by a good stop from Dimitrivski.
But a third goal came in the final minute of the half as Rashford found the net in from of the Stretford End, his 17th international goal as he also became the first United player to score for England at Old Trafford since David Beckham against Sweden in 2001.
Kane intercepted a backward pass and released Jordan Henderson who cut inside from the left before pulling the ball back for Rashford to convert from six yards.
Saka had Old Trafford on its feet as he made it 4-0 within two minutes of the restart with the goal of the game.
Trent Alexander-Arnold pumped a high long ball downfield to Saka who knocked it behind a defender, chested it down before hitting a half volley from the edge of the box which dipped over the keeper into the top corner, a measure of the confidence of the Arsenal player.
Saka completed his hat-trick in the 51st minute with another sublime finish.
This time he was picked out by Kane’s diagonal pass from midfield as he raced clean through before slotting low past Dimitrievski from 14 yards.
It ensured Saka will leave with the matchball which he clutched and kissed as he became at 21 years and 287 days the youngest player to score a senior treble for England since Theo Walcott against Croatia in September 2008.
That was the signal for Southgate to make four changes just short of the hour as Declan Rice, Saka, Henderson and Rashford made way for Kalvin Phillips, Phil Foden, Conor Gallagher and Jack Grealish.
And two of the substitutes combined for England’s sixth goal in the 64th minute.
Grealish crossed from the left and a defender, sliding in, could only divert the ball to Phillips who had a simple tap-in from inside the six-yard box for his first international goal.
England were relentless and they earned a 72nd minute penalty when Stones was wrestled to the ground by Egzon Bejtulai from Alexander-Arnold’s corner with Kane sending the keeper the wrong way as he fired high into the roof of the net, his 20th penalty for England.
Remarkably, all seven England goals had come in the space of 44 minutes.
It was Kane’s last action of the night as he was immediately replaced by Callum Wilson.
Foden had a chance to add an eighth goal, but fired wide as England kept pressing to the end in pursuit of further goals.