England vs. Slovakia, World Cup Qualifiers: Final Score 2-1, Kyle Walker starts in another boring England win

England have taken a giant step towards a place in the World Cup next year thanks to a 2-1 World Cup Qualifier win over Slovakia that gave the Three Lions a five-point advantage in first place with only two matches to go. Kyle Walker was the Manchester City player who started the match in which Marcus Rashford and Eric Dier scored the goals to give England a comeback victory, but it was boring again. That’s England for you.

FIRST HALF

It was a disaster start for England, who conceded just three minutes into the match when Marcus Rashford lost the ball in a dangerous spot, and Stanislav Lobotka put the visitors ahead with a nice finish. Slovakia had most of the possession in the first half, but they couldn’t create any other real chances and England slowly grew into the game with Dele Alli and Harry Kane getting shots at goal.

England didn’t really pressure Slovakia, but they did find the equalizer on a set piece, with Rashford’s low corner going straight to the right boot of Eric Dier, who found the top corner with a really good finish to equalize.

At halftime, a somewhat quiet match had the result it deserved, and England had work to do in the second half.

SECOND HALF

England fans complain that their team isn’t exciting or attacking enough, so they got a pretty good response from the players at the start of the final period. England came out of the half with much more intent and forced Slovakia to retreat and defend deep into their own box.

The Three Lions had more dangerous chances in the first 15 minutes of the second half than they had in the entire opening period, and they got a goal thanks to a fantastic strike from outside the box by Marcus Rashford to put England ahead.

England: Hart; Walker, Cahill, Jones, Bertrand; Dier, Henderson; Chamberlain (Sterling), Alli (Livermore), Rashford (Welbeck); Kane

Goals: Dier (37’), Rashford (59’)

Slovakia: Dubravka; Pekarik, Skrtel, Durica, Hubocan; Lobotka, Skriniar; Weiss (Rusnak), Hamsik (Duda), Mak; Nemec (Duris)

Goal: Lobotka (3’)