Euro 2020 here we come. This was no contest. Montenegro’s faces were left almost as red as their shirts.
While Chelsea’s in-form striker Tammy Abraham watched from the sidelines, Harry Kane stole the headlines, scoring a first-half hat-trick. It’s good that we have somebody putting pressure on Kane now, but let’s not forget who kickstarted this party at Wembley Stadium.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, on his first England start since March 2018, opened the scoring in wonderful style. He set himself with his first touch then blasted a ferocious shot into the back of the net with his second. He made driving runs from midfield and was relentless in the centre of the pitch.
Gareth Southgate has never shied away from letting us know how highly he rates Oxlade-Chamberlain.
‘He would have been in the starting XI for the World Cup had he been fit,’
Southgate has said of the Liverpool player. Oxlade-Chamberlain showed why last night, while Harry Winks kept things ticking over nicely alongside him. Midfield is an area where places are very much up for grabs and there was a good balance in there. I was also glad to see James Maddison finally get his chance — but we have to take into account how poor Montenegro were.
It was men against boys at Wembley and Kane cleaned up. His form in a Tottenham shirt of late has not been the best, whereas Abraham has been phenomenal for Chelsea. So Kane made sure he was well involved in last night’s rout. He started the night on 28 goals, level with Steve Bloomer and Vivian Woodward. Then he joined Frank Lampard on 29. Then Sir Tom Finney, Nat Lofthouse and Alan Shearer on 30. Then he moved out on his own at 31 — all before half-time. Credit to the England captain.