Perfect 10 for England after Lithuania victory – Pankratjevas quits as Lithuania coach

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Lithuania’s Georgas Freidgeimas (right), and England’s Alex Oxlade Chamberlain challenge for the ball during the Euro 2016 Group E qualifying soccer match between the Lithuania and England at the  LFF Stadium in Vilnius, Lithuania on Oct 12. (AP)
Lithuania’s Georgas Freidgeimas (right), and England’s Alex Oxlade Chamberlain challenge for the ball during the Euro 2016 Group E qualifying soccer match between the Lithuania and England at the
LFF Stadium in Vilnius, Lithuania on Oct 12. (AP)

VILNIUS, Oct 13, (AFP): England made it a perfect 10 wins out of 10 in their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign as they completed the road to France with a 3-0 defeat of Lithuania on Monday. Roy Hodgson’s side had long since booked their place in next year’s tournament, but they were keen to finish with an impressive 100 percent record before focusing on the December draw for the finals.

And even with an under-strength team, there was never any doubt England would do just that after Everton midfielder Ross Barkley opened the scoring midway through the first half at the LFF Stadium.

Lithuania goalkeeper Giedrius Arlauskis unluckily deflected Harry Kane’s shot into his own net for the second and Arsenal’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain struck after the interval to seal the stroll.

England are just the sixth team to win all of their matches in a European Championship qualifying campaign.

It is also the first time England have gone through qualification, in its current format, without dropping a point.

Spain were the last team to achieve a 100 percent qualification record in the Euros en route to winning the 2012 tournament.

But, despite being unbeaten in 15 matches, the low standard of their Group E opposition means Hodgson’s team are still something of an unknown quantity and have plenty to prove before they can dream of emulating Spain’s achievement.

“This is an achievement. I am very proud of the players’ performances,” Hodgson said.

“I thought we were excellent, in the first half especially. There was a lot of hard work put in.

“The quality of play was good and 10 wins out of 10 is very satisfying. We’ve got to take a lot of pride in that.”

Although it was a smooth night on the pitch, the English FA will be concerned by a brief outbreak of crowd trouble before kick-off as England supporters at one end of the stadium traded punches with their Lithuania rivals.

With top seeding and qualification as group winners already confirmed, Hodgson selected an unfamiliar side that the generous would politely label as experimental rather than severely weakened.

Stoke City’s Jack Butland started in goal three years after his last cap and Jonjo Shelvey, Jamie Vardy, Kyle Walker and stand-in captain Phil Jagielka also featured among eight changes from Friday’s 2-0 win over Estonia.

Meanwhile, Lithuania coach Igoris Pankratjevas brought a bizarre end to his reign as he quit during a post-match press conference following the defeat against England.

Pankratjevas’s side had already been eliminated from the race to qualify for Euro 2016 and their campaign ended with a tame surrender at the LFF Stadium.

The loss left Lithuania second-bottom of Group E with three wins from 10 matches and apparently convinced Pankratjevas it was the right moment to resign in memorable style.

Walking into the media briefing, the 51-year-old sat down and revealed his decision in a brief statement before heading to the exit door.

“Everything has to come to an end. This is the end of the qualification cycle and the end of my time with the team, I am resigning,” he said.

“I want to say thank you to everyone who supported the team, goodbye.”

Pankratjevas took charge of Lithuania last year after a caretaker spell and was assistant coach between 2012 and 2013.

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