Harry Kane Breaks Records as England Demolish San Marino
The England men’s football team recorded their biggest win since 1964 against San Marino in a one-sided affair that finished 10-0 in the Brits’ favour. It secured their qualification for next year’s FIFA World Cup Finals, taking place in Qatar.
English football fans are certainly striking it lucky. In the EPL, we have just seen the single highest scoring month in Premier League history. Now with the national side doing so well, their cup floweth over.
The last time the England team scored 10 goals in one match was in 1964 when they pounded the USA 10-0 in a friendly – although it doesn’t sound very friendly now, does it?
England’s latest 10-0 win against San Marino also saw records made and equalled by England’s captain, Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane, as he netted 4 goals before halftime, two from the penalty spot.
It was the first time an England player has scored four goals in one game since Ian Wright’s four, 22 years ago, again against San Marino when on that occasion. England won by 7-1.
Kane’s goal-fest takes his total for his country to 48, drawing him level with Gary Lineker and leaving him one goal behind the current second-place top goal scorer Bobby Charlton and five goals behind the all-time leading scorer Wayne Rooney.
With his 13th goal for England in a calendar year, Harry Kane also broke the record of 12 goals for England in a calendar year, scored by George Hildon in 1908, and soccer legend Dixie Dean in 1927.
He went on to score three more against San Marino, taking his calendar year total to 16. He also became only the fourth player in England team history to score a hat-trick in consecutive games for the national side. The other three are Dixie Dean, Tommy Taylor and Vivian Woodward.
But enough of Harry Kane. His last four goals were admittedly against poor opposition, and it opens the question of “should such inferior teams be allowed to compete in top-level competitions?” We mustn’t take anything away from San Marino. Their players put up a valiant effort, but the simple fact is that they were outclassed by a considerable margin.
In the FIFA national team standings, San Marino are 210th out of 210 sides. They have only won 1 out of the 186 matches they have played. The arguments for such lowly ranked teams competing with the best in world football are that on the negative side, they are open to being humiliated, while on the positive side, their players do get to share the pitch with soccers greats.
In the end, providing elite players like Kane don’t get injured in the process, where’s the harm?
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