Reuters
London, Oct 13: England became only the sixth team to end a European qualifying campaign with a 100 per cent record when they beat Lithuania 3-0 in their final Group E match Monday. Also making the main draw were Spain and Slovakia from Group C. Spain scraped past Ukraine 1-0 thanks to some brilliant work under the bar by David de Gea at Kiev while Slovakia won 4-2 at Luxembourg.
At the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, the visitors made eight changes to the team that defeated Estonia 2-0 Friday at the Wembley. But save for the first 25 minutes when Lithuania defended with all their might, England never had any problems. Within the next 10 minutes they were 2-0 up.
The first goal, after 29 minutes, was a powerful long-range strike from Ross Barkley that took a deflection off a defender before flying into the net. Six minutes later another well-struck shot from Harry Kane hit the post and struck the back of keeper Giedrius Arlauskis who conceded an own goal as the ball rebounded into the net.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain blasted England’s third at Arlauskis’s near post after 62 minutes as they became the only team in this qualifying competition to win all their matches.
England coach Roy Hodgson said he was proud of his squad’s achievement, but was not getting carried away with far tougher opposition to come in next year’s finals.
“Of course to get 10 wins out of 10 in these qualifying groups is never easy, so we have to be satisfied with it and be proud, it was a nice way to end what has been an excellent qualifying campaign for us,” Hodgson told ‘ITV Sport’.
Meanwhile in Group C, Spain garnered 27 points winning nine out of their 10 matches to top the pool.
It was a day of milestones for Spain, as Cesc Fabregas – making his 100th appearance with the squad – took the field wearing the captain’s armband and international newcomer Mario Gaspar celebrated his debut by scoring in the 22nd minute.
Fabregas, however, missed a chance to make his 100th international cap truly memorable. Pulled down in the area a minute after Gaspar’s goal, he saw Ukrainian goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov make a diving stop on his penalty try.
Meanwhile at Moscow, hosts Russia qualified for their fourth successive Euro finals with a 2-0 win over Montenegro here to finish second in Group G behind Austria.
