PARIS: Man of the moment Harry Kane scored just moments into his international debut as England continued their perfect start to Euro 2016 qualifying with a 4-0 win over Lithuania on Friday while defending champions Spain needed a goal from Alvaro Morata to overcome Ukraine.

Tottenham Hotspur striker Kane scored 80 seconds into his England debut, providing another astonishing moment in his breakthrough season having scored 29 goals for his club.

Kane replaced captain Wayne Rooney amid roars by expectant fans inside Wembley Stadium, and he delivered instantly by heading into an empty net in the 73rd minute.

The 21-year-old stole the limelight from Rooney, who went within two goals of Bobby Charlton’s England record 49 with his sixth-minute opener, and Raheem Sterling tapping in his first international goal.

Danny Welbeck also scored as England made it five wins out of five in Group ‘E’, staying six points ahead of both Slovenia and Switzerland.

Slovenia remained in the second automatic qualification place by routing bottom-placed San Marino 6-0. Switzerland stayed third after beating Estonia 3-0, making it 11 goals without conceding on a three-game winning run.

Reigning European champions Spain took an important step towards qualifying from Group ‘C’ with a 1-0 victory at home to Ukraine in Seville.

Morata of Juventus was handed a start up front in the absence of injured Chelsea star Diego Costa and took advantage to score his first international goal in the 28th minute, when he chipped in after receiving an exquisite pass from Koke at the Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium.

Spain are now clear in second place in Group ‘C’, although they remain three points behind Slovakia, who won 3-0 at home to Luxembourg for a fifth win from five outings.

Elsewhere in Group ‘C’, Belarus fought back 2-1 at Macedonia to claim their first victory of the campaign and leapfrog the hosts into fourth place.

Meanwhile, the Group ‘G’ fixture between Montenegro and Russia in Podgorica was abandoned after the German referee stopped play on two separate occasions because of trouble.

The first stoppage came with less than a minute played after visiting goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev was hit by a flare thrown from the crowd.

The CSKA Moscow goalkeeper was stretchered off and taken to hospital as a precaution, and play restarted after a half-hour stoppage.

However, the game was abandoned altogether with the score 0-0 midway through the second half as tensions mounted between the two teams after Russia’s Roman Shirokov had a hotly-disputed penalty saved.

It remains to be seen what action UEFA will take, although Russia will hope to be awarded the victory. Russia and Montenegro are third and fourth respectively in the group, both with five points from four games.

Austria top the group with 13 points after a 5-0 win in Liechtenstein, with Sweden four points behind in second. They won 2-0 in Moldova as captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored a second-half brace, including a late penalty.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2015

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