The Sunday Mail
THE man-of-the-moment Harry Kane scored just moments into his international debut to seal a 4-0 win for England against Lithuania at Wembley in a Euro 2016 qualifier on Friday.
The Tottenham Hotspur striker was called up by Roy Hodgson having scored 29 goals for his club this season, and he was brought on for captain Wayne Rooney in the 71st minute of the qualifying Group E fixture with England leading 3-0.
Within two minutes, the 21-year-old had his first goal for his country, heading home from a Raheem Sterling cross at the back post.
Before that, Rooney opened the scoring early on with his 47th international goal, leaving him two shy of Bobby Charlton’s England record.
Danny Welbeck was then credited with the second goal just before the break, although the ball took a crucial deflection off Lithuania captain Tadas Kijanskas before going in.
And before setting up Kane’s goal, Liverpool winger Sterling claimed his first in an England shirt, too, as Hodgson’s side made it five wins from five games in Group E.
“I dreamed of this and it’s just a bit of a blur at the moment,” Kane told ITV.
“It’s the best moment of my career. To represent my country at senior level is the top and hopefully I can continue to keep doing it and hopefully this goal is the first of many.”
Reigning European champions Spain took an important step towards qualifying from Group C with a 1-0 victory at home to Ukraine in Seville.
Alvaro Morata of Juventus was handed a start up front in the absence of injured Chelsea star Diego Costa and took advantage to score his first international goal in the 28th minute after being set up by Koke.
Spain were still not entirely convincing, but they could and probably should have won by more goals.
However, Sergio Ramos, on the ground where he first made his name with Sevilla a decade ago, headed against the woodwork from a David Silva free-kick and only a great Andriy Pyatov save stopped substitute Santi Cazorla making it 2-0 after a one-two with Isco.
Meanwhile, the Group G fixture between Montenegro and Russia in Podgorica was abandoned after the German referee stopped play on two separate occasions because of trouble.
The first stoppage came with less than a minute played after visiting goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev was hit by a flare thrown from the crowd. It remains to be seen what action Uefa will take, although Russia will hope to be awarded the victory. — AFP.
