Grealish makes first international goal on the advice of goalkeeper Johnstone

Saturday, October 9, 2021 at 10:43 PM• Mart van Mourik • Last update: 23:06

England booked a resounding victory over Andorra on Saturday evening. The World Cup qualifier, which was still in doubt due to a fire in the Andorra stadium, ended in 0-5. Both Jack Grealish and Ben Chilwell scored their first goals for the national team. Thanks to the win, England (nineteen points) remains the sovereign leader in Group I, with Albania (fifteen) in second place and Poland (fourteen) in third. The team of Robert Lewandowski and associates was 5-0 too strong for San Marino, while Albania recorded a 0-1 victory over Hungary.

National coach Gareth Southgate changed his team in no less than ten places compared to the international match against Poland (1-1). For example, Tammy Abraham was preferred over Harry Kane in the striker position and Sam Johnstone was under the bar at the expense of Jordan Pickford. Certainly in the first half the Three Lions the necessary difficulty in finding a breakthrough, but in the end the score rose sharply in the second act. The opening goal was found in the seventeenth minute of play.

After a long pass from behind, the ball was returned to Chilwell within the box by Jadon Sancho. The left back shot flawlessly and scored his first international goal. Initially, the goal was disallowed by referee Kateryna Monzul, but after watching the video images it turned out to be a valid goal: 0-1. Andorra then continued to defend with all their might, so that, despite the considerable field dominance of the English, it took until the fortieth minute before the score was doubled. Outstanding Phil Foden gave a deep pass to Bukayo Saka with great feeling, who took the ball well and hit it hard in the short corner: 0-2.

After an hour of play, Abraham also got his name on the scoreboard. Once again Sancho took care of the supply and he gave the AS Roma striker an unmissable opportunity from the left: 0-3. The next goal was scored by James Ward-Prowse. After a foul on substitute Grealish in the box, Ward-Prowse was allowed to score the 0-4 from the penalty spot. His first attempt was parried by goalkeeper Josep Gómes, but the midfielder scored from the rebound. The final chord was played by Grealish. A long throw from Johnstone was captured beautifully by the Manchester City attacker, who sent the Andorra defense into the woods and found a gap in the bottom left corner: 0-5. It was also Grealish’s first international goal.