Underwhelming England Beat Malta After Own Goal And Late Harry Kane Strike
England's penultimate Euro 2024 qualifier resulted in an underwhelming 2-0 victory over Malta on Friday.
An early Enrico Pepe own goal and a second-half strike from Harry Kane were enough to see England record a fifth straight Wembley win.
The game was a dead rubber. England had already won Group C, while Malta were guaranteed to finish last after losing each of their opening seven matches.
England started sluggishly and almost conceded inside the opening 30 seconds when Teddy Teuma fired narrowly wide for Malta.
But the Three Lions went ahead in the eighth minute courtesy of an own goal by Pepe, who deflected a pass from Phil Foden into the net.
England struggled to build on their early lead and the game stagnated.
The first shot on target by either side did not arrive until the 64th minute when Trent Alexander-Arnold forced an easy save out of keeper Henry Bonello.
But England finally doubled their advantage on 75 minutes when Kane - who had been booked for diving in the first half - scored the 62nd goal of his international career following fine work by Bukayo Saka.
Harry Kane pictured (left) celebrating with Phil Foden (center) and Bukayo Saka after scoring the 62nd goal of his international career in England's 2-0 win over Malta
IMAGO/PA Images/Nick Potts
Declan Rice thought he had made it 3-0 moments later with a fabulous solo strike. But a VAR review saw the goal disallowed after ruling that the presence of Kane, who had been stood in an offside position, may have interfered with the goalkeeper's decision-making.
England will conclude their qualifying campaign with an away game against North Macedonia on Monday.
