England vs Malta LIVE: Euro 2024 result and highlights after Three Lions win at Wembley
England 2-0 Malta: Gareth Southgate’s side are still unbeaten in Group C though they struggled against a stubborn Malta team
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Your support makes all the difference.England ensured a top seeding at Euro 2024 with a laboured 2-0 home victory against Group C makeweights Malta that will not live long in the memory of an underwhelmed Wembley crowd.
Until the 75th minute all that separated Gareth Southgate’s lacklustre side from 171st-ranked Malta was an early own goal by Enrico Pepe and they endured some anxious moments in between.
Captain Harry Kane finally doubled England’s lead with his 62nd goal for his country after good work by Bukayo Saka before Declan Rice had an effort ruled out for offside.
There was precious little to get enthused about though as several England fringe players wasted the chance to make a statement of intent to Southgate.
England had already qualified for next year’s finals in Germany and victory over Malta ensured they will win Group C, regardless of what happens in North Macedonia on Monday.
Relive the action from the Euro 2024 qualifiers plus get the latest odds and tips right here:
England 1-0 Malta
33 mins: Harry Kane protested the card and Gareth Southgate looked perplexed but VAR didn’t intervene to change the decision either. A strange incident to ponder in the half-time break.
England 1-0 Malta
30 mins: Drama! Malta recover the ball but Phil Foden presses high. It comes back to goalkeeper Henry Bonello whose shot pass is intercepted by Harry Kane.
Kane checks to the right of the goalkeeper who throws himself at the England captain. The keeper brings Kane down by the legs after the ball is gone and there should be a penalty awarded.
Instead the referee the pulls out a card and books Kane for diving. Incredible scenes.
England 1-0 Malta
28 mins: Teddy Teuma whips the free kick towards the far bottom corner but Harry Kane is there to nod the ball wide of goal. Jordan Pickford then deals with the resultant corner and England sweep forward.
England 1-0 Malta
27 mins: In the end it’s actually Kieran Trippier who swings in the set piece with Harry Maguire the target in the middle. Malta clear the danger and work the ball nicely up the other end of the pitch.
Tomori is involved in another testing challenge. This time it’s the England defender who lunges in and he’s booked for the tackle on Yannick Yankam.
Malta win a free kick over to the right side of the box. Big chance this...
England 1-0 Malta
24 mins: In the other Group C match of the night, Italy have scored against North Macedonia. The current European champions need to win that one to move up to second and into the automatic qualification spots.
Kieran Trippier wins England their first corner of the match. Phil Foden jogs across to take it.
England 1-0 Malta
21 mins: The Malta coaching staff will be really annoyed about conceding that opening goal. The team is playing nicely and are working together to keep England out wide whenever they breach the final third.
Paul Mbong arrives into a challege half a second too late and clatters into Fikayo Tomori’s shins. The Malta forward is shown a yellow card.
England 1-0 Malta
18 mins: Lovely work! Trent Alexander-Arnold flicks the ball up the pitch having avoided a tackle and picks out Phil Foden who skirts along the front edge of the before offloading the ball to Marcus Rashford.
Rashford holds it up then rolls a dainty pass into the penalty area where Foden has continued his run. He brings the ball back under control then lifts it into the six yard area where the goalkeeper clings onto it.
England 1-0 Malta
15 mins: Conor Gallagher looks to burst into space on the left wing but is crowded out. He runs into a defender and falls over trying to hoodwink the referee into awarding a free kick but he doesn’t get one.
Marcus Rashford then chases away a threaded pass but even his pace can’t get him to the ball but it rolls out for a goal kick.
England 1-0 Malta
12 mins: The goal will relax England a little bit. They should win this game easily but the pressure is off once they’ve gone ahead. At the minute, the Three Lions haven’t quite clicked in the middle of the pitch and Malta are defending nicely.
GOAL! England 1-0 Malta (Pepe OG, 8’)⚽️
8 mins: There’s the opener!
It’s a fortunate goal for England but the build-up play was nice. Marc Guehi threads a lovely ball down the inside right channel and picks out Phil Foden.
Foden taps it into the box, follows the ball in then looks to pull it back for Harry Kane. Enrico Pepe is too slow to stick with Foden but tracks back well.
When the ball comes across it strikes his leg, wrongfoots the goalkeeper - who still manages to get a hand to ball - and finishes in the back of the net.
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