London: A first-half hat-trick from England Skipper Harry Kane saw England rout Albania 5-0 in the Group I of the FIFA 2022 World Cup Qualifiers while Italy and Switzerland end in a thrilling stalemate.
Kane scored a perfect hat-trick- a header, a left footer and a screaming right footer, all in the first half as poor defending from Albania let the Euro 2020 runners up run riots against them. Manchester United captain, Harry Maguire opened the scoring as early as the ninth minute with a header. Kane doubled the lead in the 18th minutes assisted by Jordan Henderson who himself found the net 10 minutes later courtesy of Kane. The fourth goal of the night came from Kane about five minutes later.
🏴 Harry Kane's hat-trick helped England secure a top-two finish thanks to a devastating first-half performance 🔥🔥🔥#WCQ pic.twitter.com/8KkQ3BZYiL
— European Qualifiers (@EURO2024) November 12, 2021
Kane’s third and final came as a showstopper in the injury time before the break as everyone-including the Albania defenders watched his score an outstanding scissor kick from a Phil Foden corner answering all his critics for his Tottenham Hotspur struggles. Albania were more than lucky to not have Kane strike them harder in the second half.
Harry Kane with a ridiculous finish for his hat trick 😯 pic.twitter.com/PeoLQLXn5s
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) November 12, 2021
Elsewhere, in Group C, Switzerland who took early lead in the 11th minute via a Silvan Widmer goal were forced to share points with Italy after Giovanni Di Lorenzo canceled it out in the 36th minute.
On the other hand, Robert Lewandowski bagged a brace in Poland’s 4-1 win over 10-men Andorra. RB Leipzig forward, Dominik Szoboszlai who recently took the news by storm with his ice cold curler against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, also secured a brace as Hungary made a four to nil win over San Marino.
