Goals from Wayne Rooney and Harry Kane gave England a 2-0 win over Switzerland at Wembley last night

Published: September 9, 2015
by JOHN EVANS at Wembley Stadium

European Championship Qualifier, Group E
ENGLAND 2, SWITZERLAND 0

ENGLAND boss Roy Hodgson was full of praise for his strike force on Tuesday evening following a record-breaking night at Wembley.

Captain Wayne Rooney marked his 107th cap by becoming his country’s all-time record goalscorer with his 50th, helping seal a 2-0 victory over Switzerland. The Manchester United forward scored from the penalty spot following some nifty footwork by Raheem Sterling which was adjudged, harshly, to have ended with a trip by defender Granit Xhaka. Rooney stepped up and made no mistake with a blistering shot which gave Swiss keeper Yann Sommer no chance.

The deadlock in what proved a tight encounter was broken in the 67th minute by Harry Kane. The Tottenham striker scored with a sure left-foot strike following neat interplay and a precise pull-back from Luke Shaw.

“I am delighted first and foremost for Wayne Rooney and his breaking of the record and scoring his 50th goal and showing such courage and ability, as well, to really blast it into the roof of the net. So that’s what I’m most pleased about,” said Hodgson.

“The second thing I’m most pleased about is the result. The third, is Harry Kane, who scored his third goal in three appearances for England. The performance I hope won’t pale into insignificance, to some extent, because I think the headlines are going to be about Wayne Rooney. You know, the sub-headlines may be Harry Kane and the third might be the fact that we’ve gone eight successive games and won them all.”

Before this encounter England had already qualified with 21 points from their previous seven Euro qualifiers. Switzerland came into the game on the back of their startling win in a five-goal thriller against Slovenia three days earlier, where they scored three goals in the final 10 minutes of the match. The energy of Raheem Sterling and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain worried the Swiss at times, while there were decent efforts from Rooney and James Milner.

The visitors created good chances of their own with Stoke City’s Xherdan Shaqiri proving a handful. He brought a brave save from Joe Hart who dived at his feet to deny him a goal on the half hour mark.

On 57 minutes Kane came on for Jonjo Shelvey and his arrival was the catalyst. It took him just 10 minutes to get on the scoresheet, before Rooney’s headline-making moment six minutes from time.

ENGLAND: Hart, Clyne (Stones, 68), Cahill, Smalling, Shaw, Milne, Shelvey (Kane, 57), Delph (Barkley, 3), Oxlade-Chamberlain, Rooney, Sterling. Attendance: 75,751.