International Football
England qualify for World Cup with 10-goal rout of San Marino
England qualified for the World Cup in record-breaking style as Harry Kane scored four times in a 10-0 demolition of San Marino that ranked as the Three Lions’ biggest ever victory in a competitive match.
Needing a draw from their last Group I qualifier to reach next year’s tournament in Qatar, England went goal crazy on Monday (Nov 15) as they scored 10 in a single game for the first time since a 1964 friendly against the United States.
Harry Maguire put Gareth Southgate’s side in front early on before Filippo Fabbri’s own goal doubled England’s lead. England captain Kane took centre-stage after that, scoring four before the break to rewrite the record books.
Arsenal midfielder Emile Smith Rowe notched his first senior international goal in his maiden start. Tyrone Mings headed his first England goal after San Marino’s Dante Rossi was sent off, before Tammy Abraham and Bukayo Saka completed their country’s record-breaking win.
Kane has scored 16 goals in 2021 for England, setting a calendar year record for the Three Lions as he surpassed the 12-goal tallies of George Hilsdon in 1908 and Dixie Dean in 1927. The 28-year-old moved level with Gary Lineker on 48 England goals, with only Bobby Charlton (49) and Wayne Rooney (53) above him.
Kane is the first England player to score four times in a single game since Ian Wright against San Marino in 1993. After bagging a hat-trick in Friday’s 5-0 win over Albania, Kane is the first England player to score three or more in successive games since Tommy Taylor in 1957.
Southgate’s men ended a memorable 2021 on a fitting high note after they reached the Euro 2020 final in July – missing out on a first trophy since 1966 in a painful penalty shoot-out against Italy. Group winners England finished the qualifying campaign unbeaten in their 10 matches.
They will head to Qatar in 12 months established as one of the main contenders to win the World Cup.
Ruthless Kane
San Marino famously scored after just eight seconds against England in a qualifier 28 years ago. But there was never any danger of similar embarrassment for Southgate’s team as they took the lead in the sixth minute against a woeful San Marino team bottom of FIFA’s world rankings.
Phil Foden’s corner reached Maguire and he rose highest to score with a powerful header, making it two goals in two games for the defender.
With San Marino completely out of their depth, England struck again in the 15th minute. Maguire’s pass found Saka, who cut in from the left-hand side of the San Marino area and drilled a low shot that deflected in off Fabbri’s out-stretched boot.
Kane’s goal-spree started in the 27th minute after Rossi put his hand up to get the slightest of touches on Foden’s scissor kick, leading to a penalty that the Tottenham striker stroked in with ease.
England showed no mercy and Kane got his second in the 31st minute, guiding Smith Rowe’s cross into the bottom corner. Eight minutes later, Kane’s header was blocked by Alessandro D’Addario’s arm and he smashed the resulting spot-kick high into the top corner for his fifth England hat-trick.
Kane grabbed his fourth in the 42nd minute, weaving through the shambolic San Marino defence to slot home. It was the first time England had scored six in the first half since 1946.
Smith Rowe got the seventh with a predatory finish in the 58th minute. After Rossi’s red card for tripping Conor Gallagher, Mings headed in Trent Alexander-Arnold’s free-kick in the 69th minute.
Abraham made it nine in the 78th minute and, with England fans chanting “we want 10”, Saka obliged with a close-range header 60 seconds later.
-AFP
International Football
Former Brazil coach Tite taking break to take care of mental, physical health
Former Brazil coach Tite said he is taking an indefinite career break in order to take care of his mental and physical health.
The 63-year-old, who led Brazil to the 2019 Copa America title, was hospitalised due to a heart issue last August. He was sacked by Flamengo the following month and had most recently been linked with the Corinthians job.
“I realised that there are times when you have to understand that, as a human being, I can be vulnerable and admitting that will certainly make me stronger,” Tite said in a statement posted on his son Matheus Bachi’s Instagram on Tuesday.
“I’m passionate about what I do and I’ll continue to be so, but after talking to my family and observing the signals my body was giving off, I decided that the best thing to do now is to take a break from my career to look after myself for as long as it takes.
“As has become public, there was a conversation in progress with Corinthians, but it will have to be paralysed by a difficult but necessary decision.”
Tite, who stepped down as Brazil coach after their quarter-final exit from the 2022 World Cup, has previously coached a string of Brazilian sides including Gremio, Atletico Mineiro and Palmeiras.
-Reuters
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Brazil have sacked head coach Dorival Jr, the country’s football confederation (CBF) said on Friday after the five-time world champions were thrashed 4-1 away to fierce rivals Argentina in a humiliating qualifying loss in Buenos Aires.
The 62-year-old was appointed in January 2024 after the team spent a year under two caretaker coaches as the Brazilian FA were unable to lure Italian Carlo Ancelotti from Real Madrid.
“The Brazilian Football Confederation informs that coach Dorival Jr is no longer in charge of the Brazilian national team,” the confederation said in a statement.
“The management thanks (Dorival) and wishes him success in continuing his career … the CBF will work to find his replacement,” it added.
Dorival was handed the job after his success with Flamengo in 2022 where he won the Copa Libertadores and Brazilian Cup, a trophy he lifted again the next year with Sao Paulo.
However, he never seemed to get to grips with the national team job and failed to earn the trust of Brazil’s demanding fans after winning only seven of his 16 games in charge.
Sources told Reuters the CBF was not confident in Dorival’s work, considering there had been little to no progress since a lacklustre Copa America campaign when Brazil were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Uruguay last year.
Still, the CBF was willing to wait and see until the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Paraguay in June to reassess the situation following the end of the European season and the Club World Cup in the U.S. in June and July.
But after Brazil slumped to their heaviest-ever loss in a qualifier when they were thrashed by Argentina this week, CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues decided to pull the trigger.
IDEAL CANDIDATE
Sources told Reuters Ancelotti was still the ideal candidate but he is under contract with Real until July 2026 and there is no indication he would leave the European and Spanish champions.
Brazilian media have reported that Al Hilal’s Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus is the favourite to replace Dorival.
Brazil have been in unfamiliar territory for over two years since crashing out of the 2022 World Cup against Croatia on penalties in the quarter-finals, a heartbreaking elimination that led to the exit of long-time manager Tite.
Their humbling defeat in Buenos Aires was the latest of a series of negative records Brazil have set under caretakers Ramon Menezes and Fernando Diniz and with Dorival in charge. They had never conceded four goals in a World Cup qualifier.
Brazil are in the midst of their worst-ever World Cup qualifying campaign. They are fourth in the South American standings with 21 points, a point above sixth-placed Colombia who currently occupy the final direct qualifying berth.
Never have Brazil lost so many games, conceded so many goals or set so many negative records in the qualifying competition. They have lost five of their 14 games and conceded 16 goals.
Brazil’s 1-0 defeat by Argentina in the Maracana late in 2023 was their first-ever qualifying loss on home soil.
They also lost to Colombia for the first time, saw the end of their unbeaten run against Uruguay stretching back over two decades and were defeated by Morocco and Senegal, having never previously lost to an African nation.
-Reuters
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International Football
England’s German manager Tuchel will not sing the English anthem in his first game
England manager Thomas Tuchel said he would have to “earn the right” to sing the national anthem, God Save the King, after announcing his 26-man squad on Friday ahead of the team’s World Cup qualifiers.
Tuchel, who was appointed as Gareth Southgate’s successor in October and named his first squad to face Albania and Latvia this month, said he would not sing the anthem in his first games in charge.
“It means a lot to me, I can assure you, but I can feel that because it is so meaningful and it is so emotional and it is so powerful, the national anthem, that I have to earn my right to sing it,” the 51-year-old German told a news conference.
Former caretaker manager Lee Carsley was criticised last year for not singing the anthem during his tenure.
However, Tuchel added that while he is proud to be in charge of the team and knows the words to the anthem, he plans to earn the right with results.
“Maybe I have to dive more into the culture and earn my right from you, from the players, from the supporters, so everyone feels like ‘he should sing it now, he’s one of our own, he’s the English manager, he should sing it’,” he said.
-Reuters
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