September 06, (THEWILL) – It was another Matchday for World Cup qualifiers across Europe and there were at least four goals or more scored in matches played by England (4), Spain (4), Germany (6) and Poland who put seven past the hapless San Marino, the trashing Boys of all of European football.
As countries took bolder steps towards booking their tickets for Qatar 2022, here is a round up of some of the best games that took place.
Belgium 3-0 Czech Republic
Chelsea’s Romelu Lukaku marked his 100th cap with a goal as Belgium swatted aside the Czech Republic 3-0 to move a step closer to an automatic place at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar
Alongside Lukaku, former Blues forward Eden Hazard rampaged almost at will. The pair got on the scoresheet in a comfortable qualifying win for the Group E leaders at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels.
Spain 4-0 Georgia
Luis Enrique’s Spain responded to their defeat to Sweden with an impressive 4-0 victory over Georgia in Badajoz on Sunday in their latest qualifier.
Three first half goals from Jose Gaya, Carlos Soler and Ferran Torres were followed by one more from Pablo Sarabia to earn Spain a comfortable victory and temporarily put them back on top of Group B.
Germany 6-0 Armenia
Bayern Munich’s former manager Hansi Flick had a dream first home game in charge as he marked his home debut in style. The Germans thumped Armenia 6-0 to go top of Group J.
Serge Gnabry was the undoubted star of the show as the Germans shook off the 2-1 defeat to North Macedonia in the last round of qualifiers back in March, to completely hammer the Armenians with Gnabry’s early brace.
Marco Reus and Timo Werner put the result beyond doubt before half-time, with Jonas Hofmann’s long-range effort and Karim Adeyemi’s goal on his senior debut rounding off a rout.
England 4-0 Andorra
England kept up their 100 per cent record in the qualifying with a 4-0 win over Andorra at Wembley even though Gareth Southgate made 11 changes to the team that won in Hungary by the same scoreline.
A rejuvenated Jesse Lingard broke the deadlock after 18 minutes for the Euro 2020 finalists and captain Harry Kane scored from the spot before Lingard prodded home a clever second and England’s third.
Arsenal’s birthday boy Bukayo Saka headed in a late fourth to mark his 20th birthday from Lingard’s cross after England caught Andorra napping with a quick corner.
San Marino 1-7 Poland
The Poles warmed up for Wednesday’s World Cup qualifier against England by pummelling San Marino to stay second behind Gareth Southgate’s Group I leaders.
Although Robert Lewandowski scored twice, with Karol Swiderski and Karol Linetty also netting in the first half, it was substitute Adam Buksa who stole the show. The man of the match netted a hat-trick to make it four goals in two Poland caps so far.
Nicola Nanni pulled one back for San Marino’s first home World Cup qualifying goal in eight years.
Belarus 2-3 Wales
Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale ended his marathon Wales goal drought with a hat-trick to boost the World Cup qualification hopes for Wales as the striker reminded everyone of his dexterity and showed his class against Belarus.
With his first goals in his past 17 internationals, Captain Bale gave Wales a fifth-minute lead from the penalty spot, the first of two spot-kicks he fired home in Kazan. The talented left-footer then hit a stoppage-time winner past Sergey Chernik to give Wales a 3-2 success from their trip to Russia.
The Belarus versus Wales fixture had to be moved to the neutral location as Wales could not enter Belarus due to sanctions imposed against that country’s government.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
