Lingard leads England to 4-0 drubbing of Andorra in Wembley WC qualifier

London, Sep 5 (EFE).- Just two months after their painful shootout defeat by Italy in the Eurocup final, the English national soccer team returned to Wembley stadium to take another step on the road to qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, this time triumphing 4-0 over Andorra in a match where Jesse Lingard, scoring twice and in the center of the action virtually all the way, was the star.

Gareth Southgate’s boys were not worried in going up against tiny and weak Andorra, and he made 11 changes – a first since 1982 – prior to the match, sending in numerous players who have not received much playing time so far.

Among those sent onto the pitch were goaltender Sam Johnstone, Patrick Bamford – the top scorer with Leeds United – and Lingard, one of the standouts in the Euro competition.

Lingard, who plays for Manchester United, had a great match playing key roles in most of the offensive actions. But despite the Man United player’s performance, during the first half England seemed to have trouble getting into scoring position and then following through when they did.

Lingard scored for England for the first time in three years, knocking in his first tally in the 18th minute and then scoring again in the 78th minute on a penalty kick for the 3-0, with Harry Kane having scored the interim goal six minutes earlier.

Late in the match, it was Bukayo Saka, with Arsenal, who knocked in the final 4-0 header in the 85th minute – on his 20th birthday, no less.

England is undefeated in World Cup qualifying action so far this time around, sitting atop Group I with 15 points, the remainder of the group consisting of Poland, Hungary and Albania.