England secured their place at the 2018 World Cup with a 1-0 win over Slovenia at Wembley on Thursday night.
Harry Kane scored in added time at the end of the game to confirm England’s place at next summer’s tournament, despite a lacklustre peformance.
England struggled to break Slovenia down and were almost caught out a few times by the away side.
Joe Hart was forced into an impressive double save midway through the second-time, smothering the ball at the feet of a Slovenia forward before blocking with his feet on the follow-up.
Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford both came close to opening the scoring before Kane’s goal. Sterling saw a shot, heading for the bottom corner, excellently blocked by a Slovenia defender, and Rashford failed to convert a one-on-one with the ‘keeper.
The goal eventually came when Kyle Walker won the ball back from a Jan Oblak throw and whipped a teasing cross into Kane to bundle the ball in from close range.
Here is how we rated England’s players…
Joe Hart: 7
Kept a clean sheet and made two vital saves. Solid performance from the West Ham stopper.
Kyle Walker: 7
Although he was underwhelming for large parts of the game, he ultimately produced the key moment as he crossed for Kane to score the winner.
John Stones: 6
Composed at the back. Made some good tackles and blocks to keep Slovenia at bay.
Gary Cahill: 6
Solid performance from Cahill. Covered well and won his fair share of aerial duels.
Ryan Bertrand: 7
Made some excellent overlapping runs and put crosses into dangerous areas. Was solid defensively.
Jordan Henderson: 5
Poor from Henderson on the whole. Gave the ball away far too much and failed to push England on from midfield.
Eric Dier: 6
Better than Henderson but still not great. Dier did a good job defensively, as he lacked any cutting edge going forward.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: 3
You could be forgiven for forgetting Oxlade-Chamberlain played in that game. The streaker at the end got more mentions on ITV than him…
Raheem Sterling: 5
Looked bright at times but was clumsy and gave the ball away in dangerous positions. Was unlucky with his chance in the second half, though.
Marcus Rashford: 6
Was very impressive in the first-half but should have scored in the second.
He attempted to chip the ‘keeper and failed, when he should have buried his chance. Promising.
Harry Kane: 7
Was left frustrated at the lack of service throughout the game but popped up when England needed him to score the goal.
Took his only real chance of the match and secured the victory.