England and Germany have Russia 2018 in sight
Print Edition
ENGLAND and defending champion Germany remained on course for the 2018 World Cup on Sunday while Danny Blind was sacked as Dutch coach after his team faced missing a second straight major finals.
At Wembley, Jermain Defoe marked his international comeback with a goal as England toiled to a 2-0 victory over Lithuania. Defoe, 34, who was making his first England appearance since November 2013, hit the target midway through the second half. Substitute Jamie Vardy added a second as England tightened its grip on first place in Group F.
Gareth Southgate’s side is now the last team in European qualifying yet to have conceded a goal. England has 13 points, four ahead of Slovakia with just the nine group winners in Europe guaranteed a place at the finals in Russia in 2018.
Slovakia went second in the group with a 3-1 win at Malta, while Scotland is six points off the pace after substitute Chris Martin scored an 88th-minute winner against Slovenia in Glasgow.
Germany maintained its 100 percent record with a 4-1 win over Azerbaijan in Baku as the holder moved to 15 points in Group C.
The world champion and Switzerland are the only two teams in Europe to still have perfect records.
A brace from Andre Schuerrle and goals from Thomas Mueller and Mario Gomez saw Germany take its unbeaten away run in World Cup qualifying to 44 games. Azerbaijan midfielder Dimitrij Nazarov, who plays in Germany, had netted an early equalizer.
Meanwhile, Blind was sacked as Netherlands coach after a 2-0 defeat to Bulgaria 24 hours earlier left the team’s chances of reaching the finals hanging by the slenderest of threads.
Blind, 55, had been in charge since July 2015, but Saturday’s loss in Sofia left the Dutch in fourth place in Group A, six points behind leaders France.
“It’s a pity that it ends like this,” said Blind.
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