LONDON --
Wayne Rooney broke England's scoring record as the hosts maintained their perfect record in European Championship qualifying with a 2-0 win over Switzerland on Tuesday that secured top spot in Group E.
For a long time it had looked like being an anti-climax. But then, with seven minutes remaining, Raheem Sterling jinked in from the left flank and had his right leg clipped by a clumsy challenge from Granit Xhaka. It was a clear penalty. Up stepped Rooney. He had scored his 49th international goal -- equaling Sir Bobby Charlton’s England record -- with a penalty to the goalkeeper’s left against San Marino on Saturday. Here, as Wembley fell into an anticipatory silence, and the flashes of phone cameras sparkled, Rooney belted his shot hard and high to Yann Sommer’s right. The keeper got fingertips to the ball, but it would have taken far more than that to keep it out. Rooney became the first Englishman to score a half-century of goals and, as the habitually ebullient stadium announcer proudly declared, history had been made.
''To be the country's all-time leading goalscorer before the age of 30 is not something I could ever have dreamed of,'' the 29-year-old Rooney said. ''I was a bit emotional out there and it's something to be extremely proud of. I'm happy it's done and hopefully I can kick on from here and concentrate on the team and our success in the future.''
More generally, this 2-0 victory over Switzerland was an eighth win out of eight for England in qualifying. With a place in France already assured it may not have mattered unduly for anything beyond ranking points and coefficients, beating the second-seeded team in the group home and away can’t be anything other than encouraging.
Switzerland appeared to have came for a draw that would have left it needing only to beat San Marino to be sure of qualification but with Slovenia beating Estonia, four points from their remaining two matches will be enough to book their place in France.
For a long time, it had looked as though the headline contribution would have been not that of Rooney but of England’s great new striking hope, Harry Kane.
Without ever really looking in trouble against an unambitious Swiss team, England had labored for much of the first hour but the introduction of Kane and the switch from 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1 gave them fresh impetus. The move began with Ross Barkley in the middle of the Swiss half. He laid it left to Rooney who delayed his pass until Luke Shaw accelerated on the overlap. The Manchester United full-back pulled it back and Kane, loitering in an unusual position at the top corner of the box, slammed the ball low past Sommer.
That gives Roy Hodgson something of a dilemma. It was in a 4-2-3-1 that England looked so vulnerable at the World Cup, the pairing of Steven Gerrard and Jordan Henderson unable to offer sufficient protection to the defense. That’s why he switched back to 4-3-3. To play Kane and Rooney together, though, requires either a 4-2-3-1 (or other system with two attacking central presences) or for one of them to play against type on the flank.
Even though Jack Wilshere, Michael Carrick and Jordan Henderson will all come into consideration, the midfield selected by Roy Hodgson gave another firm indication he is anticipating playing a quick-countering 4-3-3 at the Euros -- that is, probably with Kane on the bench. Jonjo Shelvey, having started the season superbly for Swansea City and played well against San Marino on Saturday (as much as that means anything), was picked at the center, flanked by Fabian Delph and James Milner: a passer and two scufflers. Within 30 seconds, though, Delph, who has hardly played this season because of a hamstring injury picked up on Manchester City’s summer tour of Australia, had pulled up with a recurrence of the same problem. He was replaced by Ross Barkley, a more creative but less aggressive figure, who struggled to impose himself on the game.
England was, for a long period, toothless. That’s been an on-going theme of this qualification campaign, even as they clocked up seven wins in a row and qualified for the Euros ahead of any other side. This is not an England side with great guile; they struggle to break down teams that sit deep. Their strength is their pace in forward areas, but they've had very little opportunity to showcase that in a weak group in which the instinct of every opponent has been to sit deep and deny them space. Counter-intuitively, this may be a more dangerous England against better sides, teams who will look to take the initiative and attack: the friendlies against Spain, France and Germany that have been scheduled for November and March should give a truer impression of England’s realistic prospects in the Euros.
For now, their stuck in the strange limbo of qualifying, playing well enough that nobody can realistically criticize them -- what can you do, after all, other than win every game? -- without being thrilling enough for anybody to be especially enthused.
There were positives. Shaw, after an indifferent first season at Manchester United, looks to be settling in there and had quietly made the England left-back slot his own. Milner was as solidly enterprising as ever. Joe Hart, without being unduly troubled, showed fine anticipation to smother at the feet of Xherdan Shaqiri after he’d been laid in by Josip Drmic just after the half-hour.
On the down side, Sterling had a poor night, holding the ball for too long, running down blind alleys and generally looking as though he felt he had to win the game single-handed, then looking aggrieved when he lost possession: this was the Sterling of his final weeks at Liverpool rather than his first weeks at Manchester City. In the end, though, it was Rooney’s night, yet another goal pilfered when it hadn’t seemed likely.
When asked if he felt the record would ever be beaten, Hodgson added: "The strange thing about records is that you never think they will be broken, then they are. It doesn't concern me and I'm sure it won't concern Wayne. It's a proud moment for him and his family. We will enjoy it with him."
History, perhaps, doesn’t have to be climactic.
Information from The Associated Press and FOXSoccer.com's newswire services contributed to this report.
