London: Ballon d'Or winner and England skipper Harry Kane celebrated his record-breaking 126th appearance for the national side in style, starring in his side's 2-1 win over Croatia in their UEFA Nations League clash at Wembley Stadium on Friday, sealing his side's spot in the quarterfinals. World champions Spain also continued their sensational run, defeating Czechia 2-0.
Kane broke Peter Shilton's record to become the most-capped English player ever, with 126 appearances in national colours.
With an assist from Jude Bellingham, Morgan Rogers put the hosts in front in the 24th minute, with the scoreline being 1-0 at the time of half-time.
Just near the one-hour mark, Petar Sucic delivered an equaliser for Croatia, keeping the game alive. A header by Jarell Quansah to goalie Jordan Pickford was too casual and pounced on by Sucic. Five minutes later, Kane gleefully converted a penalty after it was awarded to England with Ivan Smolcic committing a serious challenge on Quansah, as per Sky Sports. The scoreline was undisturbed from this point on.
Following the match, Kane said, as per England Football's official website, "It was an incredible gesture and reception at the start of the game, but once it starts, it is just about getting the three points. We were playing against a tough team who had a point to prove and for large spells, we did well. It got a bit tight towards the end, but overall, it is a good win and sets us up nicely for Sunday.
“We gave away a few too many easy balls, especially in our own half, which killed our momentum a bit, but we definitely had enough chances to score two or three; we were playing against a good team," he added.
With the top spot in group A3, currently in the hands of an undefeated Spain up for grabs against the world champions in their match against world champions at Madrid, Kane feels it would be a great test for the team after a narrow loss at Wembley in September.
"After the first game, when we lost against them, we knew we left a bit out there,” he said.
“We knew we could have done a bit better. We said to ourselves, let us win every game until the next one. It’s a perfect opportunity on Sunday to try and prove ourselves," he signed off.
At The Prague, a penalty from Alex Baena in the 39th minute and a stoppage-time goal from Marc Pubill sealed the current FIFA World Cup champions a 2-0 win. Having won all their five matches so far, Spain maintain their top spot over England in Group A3.
For Italy, Pio Espito scored a brace as the four-time world champions boosted their quarterfinal chances with a 3-1 win over France, marking their first win over France on home soil since 1962.
France were without their superstar Kylian Mbappe, who had been rested after an injury scare during training. While a red-hot Michael Olise put France in front in the 10th minute, Espito levelled the score in the 26th minute.
In the 63rd minute, Davide Frattesi put Italy in front before Espito unleashed the killer blow with a penalty conversion in the 75th minute, handing Zinedine Zidane his first loss as France boss, as per ESPN.
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(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
