England were back at Wembley today for the first time since the great tragedy of Euro 2020(1) where they took on minnows Andorra in a qualifier for World Cup 2022. England were heavy favorites going into this match and it was apparent from the outset why that was the case. It was not a question of whether England would win, but rather how much they would win by. For those who don’t know, Andorra is a tiny country in the Pyrenees mountains that straddles the border of France and Spain. As a team they are made up largely of semi-professionals and players who frequent the lower leagues in Spain. Indeed, Andorra as a country is so small and so mountainous that it doesn’t even have an international airport. If you want to fly to Andorra from anywhere else, you have to fly into Barcelona and then take a car/bus trip two hours to the north through the mountains.
Manager Gareth Southgate made wholesale changes from the team that started against Hungary, probably due to the facts that Andorra aren’t very good and because England have a much sterner test away to Poland on Wednesday. It seems that England have largely figured out who their best XI is plus two or three substitutions, so this was a match for the fringe players to make a case for inclusion on the plane to Qatar. Some notable players to watch today were Leeds striker Patrick Bamford and Liverpool right back/midfielder Trent Alexander-Arnold. Bamford was on his debut and looking to make an impact, while Alexander-Arnold came into this match with something to prove. He is a dominant force at Liverpool with his range of passing, but he has not quite matched that level of play in an England shirt. Manchester United midfielder Jesse Lingard was also given a start. He has not played much, if at all, for United this season but he does tend to perform well in an England shirt and he was in a rich vein of form at West Ham towards the end of last season.
The gulf in class between the two sides was immediate from the outset, as the match kicked off in a festive atmosphere at a packed Wembley. None of the fans were really worried about the result, they just wanted to see some good football, sing some songs, and have a pint or two in the nice weather. Usually, a less-talented side can cause the opposition problems through tactical discipline and defending, but England’s players were just too big and too fast for the Andorrans. For example, Tyrone Mings got a start in defense today and while he is very good he is still definitely the 3rd-choice center-back right now. But even our 3rd-choice center-back was bigger, stronger, and more tactically adept than the best Andorrans. When England were on the ball they couldn’t win it off us, and when Andorra was on the ball it was often won back with ease. Not just with Mings either, but every England player.
The match was cagey for the first 15 minutes or so, with England having all the possession and playing more passes. Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham looked very lively, and was probably the best player of the half in a white shirt. He is only 18 but he already looks and plays like a man in his late 20s. Despite the resistance though, the deadlock was broken just 18 minutes in via Lingard. The ball was won in midfield by Mings and after a bit of a scramble the ball was played out to Arsenal winger (and birthday boy!) Bukayo Saka on the left side of the penalty area. He put in a cross that was only partially cleared by the Andorran defense, and the ball fell directly to the feet of Lingard who scuffed it past Andorran keeper Josep Gomes with his left foot. It wasn’t the cleanest or prettiest of hits, but Lingard did just enough to get it over the line. His celebration was joyous and a tribute to Cristiano Ronaldo, his friend and recently-returned teammate at United.
Despite that early-ish goal, it must be said that Andorra did a fairly solid job of damage control after that. England were still the dominant side, but no more goals were scored in the first half. England just seemed a tad too fancy at times and Andorra were able to clear away attack after attack. They didn’t create really anything themselves as England and West Bromwich Albion keeper Sam Johnstone did not face a shot on target. It was hard to tell just how good he is at the international level when a stern-looking traffic cone could have done his job today.
The early part of the second half was a carbon copy of the first half. England had all of the ball and they were playing all of the passes, but Andorra were very stubborn in their resistance. Again they did not really look like scoring themselves, but they were determined to not let England get another one. Right back Reece James came very close to finding a second after his long-range shot hit the crossbar, but aside from that chance England were again struggling to get clear shots on target. Southgate decided to ring the changes shortly after James’s effort, bringing on Harry Kane, Mason Mount, and Jack Grealish.
Southgate was rewarded for the changes on 72 minutes when Grealish and Mount combined well in the area, with the latter being brought down from behind in the box. It was about as stonewall of a penalty as you’ll see in this era of VAR. The Andorran defender was the wrong side of Mount and Mount probably would have scored had he not been brought down via contact on the back of his leg. Mount has been very good these past few matches for England and looks to be a shoe-in for 2022. Kane, England’s designated penalty taker, stepped up and beat Gomes to the keeper’s right with a low and powerful shot into the side of the net. Gomes guessed correctly and jumped the right way, but he could not keep Kane out. Kane now has 40 goals in 63 caps for England, and has scored in every World Cup qualifier for England going back to 2017. At age 28, you have to feel that England’s all-time scoring record is well within his grasp. He only needs 14 more goals to break the mark of 53 currently held by Wayne Rooney, and he has at least two major tournaments left in his career. At this point, it would be more surprising if Kane didn’t break Rooney’s record.
The points were secured, but in similar fashion to the match against Hungary in mid-week, England kept their foot firmly planted on the gas pedal. Lingard got his second goal and England’s third just six minutes later, as it became apparent the Andorrans were tiring and the proverbial floodgates opened. Some good build-up play from Grealish saw him find Saka in the middle of the park, and Saka was allowed to run diagonally forward and to his left. He spotted Lingard mostly by himself in the left channel, so he played the ball along the ground into his feet. Lingard took a touch back to the inside to create a space, and his marker was much too far off of him. He toe-poked a shot with his right towards the goal, and the movement created with that technique took the ball away from Gomes. It bounced in front of him once and went over his arm for 3-0.
England dominated possession some more and got their fourth and final goal on 85 minutes, this time with Saka scoring and Lingard being the provider. England won a corner and Alexander-Arnold adeptly played the corner quickly while Andorra were still setting up. Due to them being asleep at the wheel, Alexander-Arnold was easily able to find Lingard in the right channel near the edge of the box. Lingard chipped a ball in over the top towards the England forwards in the box, and the ball was met at the back post by Saka’s head and steered into the goal. He wheeled away in celebration and the England fans roared their approval. Not only was it a birthday goal for the 20 year-old, it was an opportunity for England fans to show their support after the nightmare Saka endured back in July. It was his missed penalty that handed Italy the trophy, so it was good to see him back on the score sheet at Wembley and to hear the fans singing his name. No one has forgotten the missed penalty, but it also seems that many fans have moved on from that intensely negative moment. He’s an excellent player and deserves all the support he can get. He had one bad moment that whole tournament and his career should not be defined by that one bad moment.
All in all, a positive result that sees England maintain their five point lead at the top of Group I. 5 games played, 15 points secured, and a goal differential of +16. There really isn’t much to complain about with any of that. Of course England fans are still England fans and some are complaining about how it took the addition of Kane/Grealish/Mount to finish off such lowly opposition, but those fans really need to calm down. Andorra had 11 men behind the ball for most of this match and it can be difficult to break through teams like that due to the sheer amount of bodies in the way. Also, I think England would have gotten a few more goals even without bringing on the big guns. The Andorrans were physically spent by the 70th minute and we probably would have gotten more goals without the changes.
I think the biggest positives to take away from this match were the individual efforts of Bellingham, Lingard, and Alexander-Arnold. It’s true that the opposition wasn’t good today, but it’s beyond doubt that Bellingham is going to be a superstar. He needs to keep developing his game and progressing at the club level, and all signs indicate he is going to continue doing that. Alexander-Arnold will also give Southgate some food for thought. He is a natural right back but due to England’s current over-abundance of right backs there may not be a spot for him there due to his occasional lapses in defense. If Alexander-Arnold finds himself on the plane to Qatar, it will likely be as a right-sided midfielder. His passing might be simply too good to not bring him along.
Lingard is probably the most enigmatic English player I’ve seen in years, though. Sometimes he plays like he did today – quick, alert, and instinctual. He enjoys playing at Wembley and has scored some big goals in big games. At other times though he looks utterly lost on the pitch and it appears as if he’s never played the game before. He also likely won’t get much playing time at United this season, as he sits behind Bruno Fernandes in that attacking midfield position. However, there is no denying his contributions today. Even if he does not make the final squad, he is an important rotational player for this qualifying campaign. It’s unclear what Southgate will do regarding his future, but his Man of the Match performance today will not be forgotten.
In the bigger picture, there is also some lively debate about whether teams like Andorra (such as San Marino, Luxembourg, Gibraltar, Malta, Monaco, Liechtenstein) should even be playing the bigger teams like England in World Cup qualifiers. My personal stance is that there is a flaw in the way the qualification tables are set-up. I’d like to see a system where these smaller nations all play each other in the same group, and then the winner of that group gets to qualify. For example, right now Andorra and San Marino have a snowball’s chance in hell of qualifying because they have to go through England, Poland, Hungary, and Albania to do so. However, if the six smallest teams in UEFA only had to play each other in a group, all of a sudden the prospect of qualifying looks much easier. This format change would also ensure that only the best of the small teams makes the tournament. They would still be heavy underdogs, but they would at least have a shot at shocking the world and making a run. Even if the “small nations” group idea doesn’t work, I’d like to see some sort of merit-based process for getting these teams a fairer shake at qualification. National sides are constantly on the rise and fall. For example, Belgium were a laughing stock just 15 years ago but now they are a European powerhouse. The current format is not working, and I think football in these smaller nations could suffer as a result of it, if they aren’t already.
But, England can only play the team put in front of them, and they played them off the pitch today. A whopping 88% possession, 20 shots, 6 shots on goal, and a clean sheet. It does not get much more dominant than that at the professional level. England can now turn their full attention to Robert Lewandowski and Poland, where they will travel to on Wednesday evening. Three points from that match would put a canyon-sized chasm between them and second place in the group. They would be 8 points clear of second with only four qualification matches left after that. Poland away will be a much tougher test, but even if Lewandowski scores I don’t think the Polish will be able to stop England from scoring.
Three Lions on the Shirts!
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