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England ease past Andorra, Poland cruise to victory over San Marino 
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Jack Grealish of England (R) celebrates after scoring his team's fifth goal during the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Andorra in Andorra la Vella, Andorra, October 9, 2021. /CFP

Jack Grealish of England (R) celebrates after scoring his team's fifth goal during the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Andorra in Andorra la Vella, Andorra, October 9, 2021. /CFP

Jack Grealish scored his first goal for England after coming on as a substitute to add some late gloss to a 5-0 rout of Andorra on Saturday which edged his side a step closer to sealing their place in next year's World Cup finals.

Grealish produced a trademark dribble and finish to round off a satisfactory night for England manager Gareth Southgate.

Ben Chilwell and Bukayo Saka made it 2-0 shortly before the interval. Tammy Abraham, given a first start for four years, made it 3-0 with a tap-in and James Ward-Prowse then had a 79th-minute penalty saved before converting the rebound.

But the best was saved for last as Grealish dribbled around a tiring Andorra defence before slotting in a low shot.

In another mismatch, similar to England's 4-0 win at Wembley last month, Andorra offered hard graft and defended robustly but were no match for Southgate's much-changed side who eased to their sixth win from seven matches in the group.

England now have 19 points, four more than Albania, who won in Hungary, and five more than Poland. Two wins from their last three games will book their place in Qatar.

Players of Poland and San Marino in action during the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier in Warsaw, Poland, October 9, 2021. /CFP

Players of Poland and San Marino in action during the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier in Warsaw, Poland, October 9, 2021. /CFP

Elsewhere on Saturday, Poland thrashed San Marino 5-0 in Group I as they now remain one point behind Albania.

Poland manager Paulo Sousa started the game with just two players from the starting line-up against England in September, resting players such as Piotr Zielinski, Kamil Glik and Grzegorz Krychowiak ahead of Tuesday's crunch match against Albania.

Poland's Karol Swiderski put the hosts ahead after 10 minutes with a close-range header, followed by an own goal by San Marino 10 minutes later, after defender Christian Brolli deflected a pass from Kacper Kozlowski.

The hosts increased their lead shortly after halftime when defender Tomasz Kedziora struck the ball into the roof of the net. Striker Adam Buksa scored in the 84th minute having grabbed a hat-trick against San Marino in September.

Krzysztof Piatek tapped the ball into the net in stoppage time in his first match since recovering from the injury that prevented him from playing at Euro 2020.

Source(s): Reuters

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