“Finishing was ruthless,” says England’s manager Gareth Southgate after 7-0 win over North Macedonia

Manchester [UK], June 21 (ANI): In the UEFA EURO Qualifier match, England got the better of North Macedonia as they defeated them 7-0 on Tuesday at the Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester.

Following the win, England’s manager Gareth Southgate said, the quality of the play was good and the finishing was ruthless, as per the official website of UEFA.

England looked in great form since the beginning of the match. They were giving out their 100 per cent. Defensively, England was too good for North Macedonia, as they couldn’t take a single shot on target.

After the win, in the post-match interview, England’s manager Gareth Southgate said, What pleased me the most was that every time we lost the ball the hunger to win it back really set the tone for the performance.

Then the quality of the play was good and the finishing was ruthless. For the players to have the mentality they have to work, at the late stage of this monster of all seasons, there was every excuse to do that and they’ve not done that,” according to the official website of UEFA.

He further added, “There were boys coming back from the biggest week of their lives professionally. We had boys who had two weeks on the beach and could have approached that differently but I think what we are trying to build was apparent for everyone tonight.”

According to the official website of UEFA, when asked about Bukayo Saka’s ha-trick, Gareth Southgate, “All the credit is with him. He works incredibly hard. He’s talented, he’s humble. He’s hugely popular with all of the players and all of the staff and I have to say his finishing has been like that all week. We weren’t surprised by the first one, that’s how he’s been all week, we hadn’t seen the second one coming.”

England’s captain Harry Kane opened the scoring. In the 29th minute, he scored from a tap-in with his left foot inside the six-yard box.

In the 38th minute, Bukayo Saka scored the second goal for England.

Just before half-time, Marcus Rashord rolled the ball into North Macedonia’s net to take England’s lead to 3-0.

In the second half, Bukayo scored his second goal of the match. His incredible volley gave no chance to the goalkeeper. Thus, England’s lead was now stretched to 4-0.

Soon after, Bukayo Saka scores his third goal of the match. In the 51st minute, Saka rolled the ball past North Macedonia’s goalkeeper to give England a 5-0 lead.

Later in the 64th minute, Kalvin Phillips scored from a tap-in with his left foot. England were now 6-0 up in the game.

Harry Kane scored the seventh goal for England. He was awarded a penalty in the 73rd minute. Kane scored from the penalty spot and England won the match 7-0.

England’s captain Harry Kane opened the scoring and therefore scored the last goal of the match as well.

England took 14 shots out of which 10 were on target. Their total possession of the ball during the game was 68 per cent. They completed 683 passes with an accuracy of 91 per cent.

North Macedonia failed to register even a single shot on target. Their possession of the ball during the game was just 32 per cent. They completed 336 passes with an accuracy of 79 per cent.