Paris: Germany ran up an expected goal avalanche in thrashing San Marino 7-0 while Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane celebrated his first start for England with a late equaliser to deny Scotland.
Having already trounced San Marino 8-0 in the reverse fixture, Germany’s almost second string line-up quickly set about running up another rugby score in Nuremberg.
Julian Draxler opened the scoring on 11 minutes before a brace from Sandro Wagner had the Germans 3-0 up before the half hour mark. Amin Younes added the fourth seven minutes before the break while Shkodran Mustafi added a fifth two minutes after the restart.
Julian Brandt made it six 18 minutes from time before Wagner completed his hat-trick on 85 minutes as Germany continued their perfect start to qualifying, a feat matched only by Switzerland in Group-B.
In Glasgow, Kane marked his first match as captain with an equaliser three minutes into injury time in a match between old enemies that burst into life in the dying moments.
There had been little warning of what was to come during a largely uninspiring encounter that only started to warm up once English substitute Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had given the visitors a 1-0 lead on 70 minutes.
But two sumptuous free-kicks from Leigh Griffiths in the final three minutes looked to have given Scotland a stunning turnaround victory.
Yet a first win over the English since 1999 was denied Gordon Strachan’s team deep into stoppage time as Kane fired home a cross from Raheem Sterling to earn a 2-2 draw. It meant England avoided a first qualifying defeat since October 2009.
Robert Lewandowski scored a hat-trick, including two penalties, as Poland kept their six point lead in Group E with a 3-1 victory over Romania. Bogdan Stancu’s strike 13 minutes from time was too little, too late for the visitors.
