Have to credit players and staff for a good year, admits Gareth Southgate

England faced San Marino on Monday night and needed a draw to secure qualification for the 2022 World Cup held in Qatar. The Three Lions achieved their objective in style as they hit double figures, by scoring ten goals in a single game, for the first time since a friendly against the United States in 1964. Harry Maguire opened the scoring for England before Filippo Fabbri's own goal doubled their lead and then England captain Harry Kane then invited the spotlight on himself as he scored four goals before the half-time break.

Arsenal star Emile Smith Rowe notched his first international goal on his debut for England's seventh goal of the contest. Tyrone Mings also scored his first England goal after Dante Rossi was sent off with goals from Tammy Abraham and Bukayo Saka completing the scoring for their country's biggest win. It saw England seal their ticket to the World Cup in style as they finished top of Group I and England boss Southgate praised the mentality of the players to grind out results earlier in the qualification phase.

“The qualification was earned away in Budapest, Warsaw and Albania. I have to credit all our players and staff for a very good year. We cannot do anything about the level of opposition but the mentality and the way they applied themselves was terrific. We knew we'd win the game. What we wanted was to challenge the team to put a high level of performance in,” Southgate told ITV

"We know the opposition isn't strong but the mentality within the group shone through again and when you've got senior players like Conor Coady, Tyrone Mings, Harry Maguire and Harry Kane, who set the tone, then it's something for the young players to feed off,” he added.