England edge Slovakia, Germany brush aside Norway

TRNAVA, Slovakia: Adam Lallana scored with the last kick of the match as England overcame 10-man Slovakia 1-0 in Sam Allardyce’s first game as manager in World Cup qualifying on Sunday, while Thomas Mueller put his Euro 2016 goal drought behind him, scoring twice to give dominant Germany an easy 3-0 win away to Norway.

Despite Slovakia having Martin Skrtel sent off in the 57th minute, Allardyce looked set to become the first England manager since Bobby Robson in 1982 not to win his first game in charge.

But in the fifth minute of stoppage time here, Liverpool midfielder Lallana squeezed a shot between Slovakia goalkeeper Matus Kozacik’s legs to get England up and running in Group F.

Lallana’s goal, on a clammy night at City Arena, spared England from a repeat of the result from their group-stage encounter with Slovakia at Euro 2016.

It also meant that captain Wayne Rooney finished as a winner on a night when he won his 116th cap to become England’s most-capped outfield player.

Allardyce had vowed that Rooney would no longer play as a number 10 on his watch, but the captain nonetheless lined up in midfield beside Jordan Henderson in a 4-1-4-1 system.

With Raheem Sterling hugging the touchline on the right and Lallana flitting infield from the left, it left lone striker Harry Kane isolated.

It took England until mid-way through the first half to present Kane with anything approaching a shooting chance and when Kyle Walker picked him out at the near post, the number nine missed his kick.

Slovakia gave England a scare when Michal Duris robbed Danny Rose and flashed the ball across the six-yard box, narrowly eluding Dusan Svento.

The first half ended with Sterling drilling a shot wide, but England were toiling.

Allardyce shuffled his pack at half-time, switching Sterling and Lallana and pushing Rooney upfield, but it took the dismissal of Skrtel for the visitors to take the upper hand.

Rooney registered England’s first shot on target in the 65th minute, a weak curler that Kozacik pushed away uncertainly, before Sterling almost caught the Slovakia goalkeeper out with an improvised chip.

In Oslo, Mueller took advantage of shoddy Norwegian defending to give the title holders an early lead and headed the third goal on the hour of the European Group C game.

In between, he produced a superb pass to set up Joshua Kimmich for his first international goal.

Germany made light of the absence of Jerome Boateng, Mario Gomez and Andre Schuerrle, plus Lukas Podolski and Bastian Schweinsteiger who both have retired from international football.

They enjoyed 68 percent of the possession, spent nearly the entire game inside the Norway half and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, given the captaincy in place of Schweinsteiger, did not have to save a single shot on target.

Norway lacked ambition from the outset but any plans they may have had of frustrating the visitors were quickly torpedoed.

The home defence twice failed to clear the ball and Mueller, who failed to hit the target in Euro 2016, managed to score with a deflected shot despite being off-balance in the 15th minute.

A lucky bounce gave Norway a rare opening but Joshua King, given a free shot on goal, sent his effort high and wide.

In the group’s other game, Ruslan Gurbanov’s goal on the stroke of halftime gave Azerbaijan a 1-0 win at minnows San Marino.