England thrash North Macedonia 7-0 at Old Trafford

Three days after a resounding 4-0 win over group weakest team Malta, England returned to Old Trafford to host North Macedonia in the fourth round of EURO qualifiers.

The Eastern European opponent is highly regarded for the qualities of a member of the famous former Yugoslav football village, and had an exceptional performance when defeating Italy in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

However, that is just a memory of the past and North Macedonia is having to return to the old "pig trough", starting over for a new journey for this very young team.

Defender Kyle Walker was in action against North Macedonia.

During the first 45 minutes, the ball almost only rolled on the North Macedonia field as the Eastern European visitors could not deploy their own style of play, instead only able to endure the storms unleashed by the home team.

The match's deadlock was resolved in the 29th minute when Marcus Rashford ran down to receive a long pass from Jordan Henderson and quickly coordinated with Luke Shaw on the left wing. The Man United defender crossed straight into the middle where Harry Kane was waiting, just needing to kick and score to open the score for the "Three Lions".

Harry Kane after scoring his 57th goal for England.

In the 38th minute, a combination like a practice match on the right wing between Bukayo Saka, Alexander-Arnold and Kyle Walker gave Bukayo Saka the opportunity to receive the ball and shoot into the net of North Macedonia goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski.

Young striker Bukayo Saka is on the rise.

Just before the end of the first half, Jordan Henderson assisted Marcus Rashford to score the third goal for the home team.

Marcus Rashford scored the third goal.

The second half was even more "terrifying" for North Macedonia when the away team almost collapsed, unable to withstand the diverse attacks from the home team England. Within just a few minutes of the second half, Bukayo Saka scored two consecutive goals to complete his own hat-trick in this match.

Bukayo Saka scored a hat-trick.

The score was raised to 6-0 in the 64th minute when defender Nikola Serafimov cleared the ball right to Kalvin Philips and the midfielder, who had just come on as a substitute for England, did not miss the opportunity to score into a nearly empty net.

Kalvin Philips scored.

In the 73rd minute, Harry Kane successfully executed the penalty to seal a resounding 7-0 victory for England against North Macedonia.

The sadness of center back Eljif Elmas and goalkeeper Dimitrisevski after the 7th goal.

Winning all 4 matches, the "Three Lions" comfortably reign at the top of Group C of the EURO 2024 qualifiers with 12 full points, 6 points more than the second-placed team Ukraine and having played 1 more match than this opponent.

Bukayo Saka and coach Gareth Southgate.

This situation puts considerable pressure on the Italian team, who have only played two matches and have three points. Due to the Nations League finals, Italy can only play the next qualifying round from September, with the worry of being left behind by their main rivals.

Welcoming Greece at the Stade de France, the French team is under great pressure because if they stumble, Greece will catch up with them in points and possibly take away the top spot in Group B. Despite having a squad of star players and home field advantage, France still cannot find a way into the opponent's goal.

It was not until the beginning of the second half that Antoine Griezmann collided with Konstantinos Mavropanos in the Greek penalty area in the 49th minute. After consulting VAR, the referee awarded the French team a penalty and Kylian Mbappe easily opened the score for "Les Bleus".

Mbappe scored from the penalty spot against Greece.

Greece were reduced to 10 men from the 69th minute after Mavropanos received a second yellow card. Conceding a goal and losing a player, the EURO 2004 champions had to accept a 0-1 defeat.

France won their fourth consecutive qualifying round with nine goals scored and none conceded, comfortably holding the top spot in Group B with a six-point lead over second-placed Greece.

Source NLDO

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