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By Phil McNulty
Chief football writer at Wembley
England captain Harry Kane played with a hat-trick as they cruised to victory from Bulgaria to maintain their 100 percent record from Euro 2020 qualifying.
The side of gareth Southgate made it three wins with 14 goals scored from three, hardly needing as they cleared another obstacle towards next summer’s showpiece in their path to crack sweat.
Kane and Raheem Sterling were deadly once more as England constructed momentum out of a first 45 minutes to brush Bulgaria.
The pair joined to give a 24th-minute lead when Sterling pounced on an error by Bulgaria goalkeeper Plamen Iliev in a goal-kick to install Kane to get a smart ending on the flip to England.
Kane scored England’s second from the spot four minutes following the rest, the punishment given for the foul of Nikolay Bodurov on Marcus Rashford he crossed to package home for Sterling the third in the 55th minute.
Tottenham’s Kane completed his treble with another spot-kick after he was hauled down by Kristian Dimitrov to shoot his outstanding international listing to 25 goals from 40 looks, with this his next hat-trick after attaining the same feat against Panama from the 2018 World Cup.
Southgate, together with success was able to provide a debut since England had the perfect preparation for the qualifier from Kosovo.
Sterling and kane are going to claim the headlines for England more and rightly so they are a pair of attackers.
Kane’s hat-trick requires him beyond England’s 1966 World Cup hero Sir Geoff Hurst, who scored 24 goals for the Three Lions in 49 appearances.
Sterling put him up and Kane refunded the compliment their own venture supplying Southgate and growing in stature, for England’s third.
Sterling’s speed was a constant threat to a true very bad Bulgaria side but, in tandem with Kane, he was able to lift England from a bad first-half display on to a level that finally made it simply a matter of how many they would score.
With what, to the surface, looks like an extremely comfortable passing to Euro 2020 from Group 23, england have been introduced – however the manner in has been quietly impressive.
England might have come up short at the Uefa Nations League Finals of also this summer and the 2018 World Cup in Russia, however, it sounds a formality which they will get a second crack at end the years of harm.
In reality, England and manager Gareth Southgate could have asked for a draw compared to the one they’ve been given and it is hard to observe some of the groups in their group severely bothering them.
The problem England will face is that, once more, the very first test of their credentials, ambitions and progress may arrive from the Euros summer months.
Southgate match sharp for this with performances and by constructing a squad which can strike the ground running once the action begins at Euro 2020 and should make certain England are prepared.
England might not have too many evaluations prior to then so Southgate will have to use games and time sensibly to assemble a squad that is finally in form when it matters to get over the line.
England striker Harry Kane talking to ITV:”We got caught on the counter a few days we said at half-time we needed to attempt to come out and get an early goal and that’s what we did. It.
“It is terrific for [Raheem Sterling] he’s taken his club form to global form, he’s an awesome player. We like playing together, we all do.”
England manager Gareth Southgate talking to ITV:”I think it improved as the game went on. We didn’t have to over-complicate things. We seemed dangerous, occasionally we took a couple too many touches. We were caused by their creation difficulties from possession.
“In a game such as that you have to create sure the concentration is suitable. I always felt we had sufficient firepower to win the match. I am not sure it’s complacency – every team will have some moments, you just have to be certain to see the runs but I pleased. A number of the attacking play was really exciting.”
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