Five-star England cruise to San Marino success
Thursday, October 9, 2014
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England 5-0 San Marino
Roy Hodgson's side completed a routine victory against the visitors to cement their place at the top of Group E after two games.
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• England make it two wins from two Group E games with comfortable victory
• Phil Jagielka and Wayne Rooney (pen) put hosts two up at interval
• Danny Welbeck, Andros Townsend and Alessandro Della Valle own goal complete scoring
• Same result as San Marino suffered on last visit to Wembley in 2012
• Next games: Estonia v England (12 October), San Marino v Switzerland (14 October)
England followed up their opening Group E away success in Switzerland with a comfortable home victory over San Marino at Wembley.
Roy Hodgson's team led at half-time through a Phil Jagielka header and Wayne Rooney penalty and added to their advantage through Danny Welbeck, Andros Townsend and Alessandro Della Valle's own goal in the second half.
For Pierangelo Manzaroli's San Marino this was their second European qualifying defeat after last month's loss to Lithuania and a repeat of the scoreline when they last visited Wembley in 2012. They had conceded 26 goals combined in their previous four meetings with England and this was a damage-limitation job for them from the start. They held out for 25 minutes before Jagielka headed into an empty net after goalkeeper Aldo Simoncini tripped over as he came to collect a James Milner corner.
In fairness to Simoncini, who studies computer science, he went on to make notable saves from Welbeck and later Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain as well as foiling Rooney several times. Yet he had no chance with Rooney's penalty just before the break, driven high to his left after Andy Selva, the visitors' longest-serving player, had caught the England captain in the face with a high boot. It was Rooney's 42nd goal for his country.
Roy Hodgson sent on Oxlade-Chamberlain and Adam Lallana at the interval and within four minutes the former teed up his Arsenal FC colleague Welbeck with the low cross for the third goal. For two other Gunners, full-backs Calum Chambers and Kieran Gibbs, this was a first competitive international start but they were barely tested, defensively at least, on a night when goalkeeper Joe Hart did not have a serious stop to make. After substitute Townsend had struck the fourth goal with a near-post drive from the edge of the box, San Marino defender Della Valle rounded things off by deflecting in Rooney's centre for his second own goal against England.