England captain Wayne Rooney opened the scoring with a penalty conversion in the 13th minute of the game and another five goals ensured a sweet victory for the away team. England, thus become the first team to have assured their place in the UEFA Euro 2016 with seven wins on the trot. No other team has an undefeated run at the qualifiers either.
Easy win for England
England manager Roy Hodgson opted to start without the likes of Theo Walcott, Harry Kane, Gary Cahill and Raheem Sterling to test out the rest of the squad. And, the test was quite successful. England dominated in every part of the game, there was not a single San Marino attack on the English net for most periods of the game.
England maintained possession throughout the game at 69%, took more than 20 shots and completed almost 500 passes. On the other hand, San Marino players just attempted to compete and failed. After the first goal by Wayne Rooney, San Marino defense was shaken and at the 30 minute mark they conceded another goal (unfortunately own goal by Brolli). Arsenal youngster Alex Oxlade Chamberlain almost made it 3-0 at half-time, however it was blocked from point-blank range by San Marino keeper Aldo Simoncini.
The most frustrating part of a fixture is sitting on the bench watching your team-mates, waiting for the opportunity to prove to the manager that you deserve more play time. Arsenal forward Theo Walcott and Spurs striker Harry Kane came off the bench in the second half. It was Walcott making an instant impression over the manager scoring a goal in under one minute of his presence on the pitch. Harry Kane added the fifth for England in the 77th minute and moments later Walcott sealed the game with another shot making it 6-0 for the visitors.
Records galore for England at Euro qualifiers
The game against San Marino will be a very special one for Ross Barkley as he notched up his first ever international goal. While, England captain Wayne Rooney equalled the all-time scoring record for the country at 49 goals with his penalty during the early quarter of the game.
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