Arsenal’s new signing Danny Welbeck fired England to a 2-0 victory over Switzerland in their Euro 2016 qualifier on Monday night at the St. Jakob-Park stadium in Basel.
Both goals came in the second half and England (ranked 20th)will heave a sigh of relief as the Swiss team (ranked 9th) are the toughest in their group which also includes Estonia, Lithuania, San Marino and Slovenia.
This is England’s first away win since they beat San Marino in March 2013.
The Three Lions looked a different unit and had a number of shots on target, especially in the first half. Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney, in particular, created a total of four goalscoring chances – the highest in the game. But both goals were created by Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling.
Switzerland 0-1 England: Welbeck (58’)
The first goal came from an England counter-attack. Sterling received the ball on the left side of the box and with a first touch pass across the box, he beat three defenders to find Welbeck who guided it in from the edge of the six-yard box.
Switzerland 0-2 England: Welbeck (94’)
The second goal involved Rickie Lambert who had just come on in the 90th minute to replace Rooney. Sterling had the ball on the right flank and found an unmarked Lambert near the centre of the Swiss half. As he was closed down, he released Welbeck who was making a run through the centre and he took his shot from just behind the penalty spot and beat the goalkeeper to fire it into the bottom right corner.