England won 7-0 thanks to Saka's hat-trick

Bukayo Saka scored a hat-trick and Harry Kane scored twice in England's 7-0 win over North Macedonia in Group C of the Euro 2024 qualifiers on June 19.

*Goals: Harry Kane 29', 73' (pen), Saka 38', 47', 51', Rashford 45', Phillips 64'.

The biggest win of the Euro qualifiers so far helped England maintain their dominance in Group C with 12 points after four matches. In the two qualifiers in June, the "Three Lions" scored 11 goals and did not concede. At Old Trafford, Gareth Southgate's students only had trouble in the first half hour, before completely dominating the game against North Macedonia.

Saka celebrated his goal in the 51st minute by raising three fingers, symbolizing a hat-trick. Photo: AP

Southgate was pleased not only with the result, but also that his experiments had all yielded the desired results. Trent Alexander-Arnold played well and contributed an assist and a goal in the central midfield role, while the trio of Saka - Harry Kane - Marcus Rashford all scored. In defence, John Stones showed that he seemed to be the most compatible partner with Harry Maguire in the national team.

Against a North Macedonia side that was no longer as strong as when they qualified for Euro 2020, England easily controlled the match. The home team opened the scoring in the 29th minute, when Luke Shaw assisted captain Harry Kane to score with his left foot.

The visitors soon collapsed after conceding the first goal and conceded two more in the first half. In the 38th minute, from Alexander-Arnold's initiative, Kyle Walker crossed just enough for Saka to make it 2-0. After Kane and Saka had registered their names on the scoreboard, Rashford also scored with a tap-in into an empty net in the 45th minute.

Main developments of the England - North Macedonia match on June 19.

It took Saka just six minutes into the second half to complete his first hat-trick of his career. The Arsenal midfielder made it 4-0 after Alexander-Arnold's assist in the 47th minute, before adding another in the 51st. Saka was passed to Kane - the last player to score a hat-trick for the "Three Lions" (March 2019).

Saka's excellence means he is likely to continue to hold a firm grip on England's right flank for the foreseeable future. On the left, Rashford, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish will have to compete fiercely. The Man City duo of Foden and Grealish also performed well after coming on in the second half. Grealish started Kalvin Philips' 6-0, before Kane completed his double with a successful penalty in the 73rd minute.

England are on course to qualify for the finals, with a six-point lead over second-placed Ukraine. In this group, North Macedonia still has a chance to compete for one of the two tickets to Euro 2024, as they have the same three points as Italy but have played one more game.

Line-up

England (4-3-3): Jordan Pickford; Kyle Walker, John Stones, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Declan Rice (Phillips 58), Jordan Henderson (Gallagher 58); Bukayo Saka (Foden 58), Harry Kane (Wilson 74), Marcus Rashford (Grealish 58).

North Macedonia (3-5-2): Stole Dimitrievski; Stefan Ristovski (Bejtulai 46), Gjoko Zajkov (Serafimov 57), Darko Velkoski; Stefan Askovski, Eljif Elmas, Arijan Ademi (Atanasov 58), Enis Bardhi, Ezgjan Alioski; Aleksandar Trajkovski (Babunski 57), Ilija Nestorovski.

Vy Anh

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