Viewers left angry by controversial England decision during match

Viewers have been left angry by a controversial England decision during their World Cup qualifying match against San Marino on Thursday.

Ollie Watkins scored on his international debut and Dominic Calvert-Lewin struck twice whilst Raheem Sterling and James Ward-Prowse added to the England goal tally as the Three Lions kicked off their qualification campaign for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar with a comfortable 5-0 win over FIFA’s lowest-ranked side.

It’s fair to say that Gareth Southgate’s side easily should have won by more, and wasted up number of chances before the Saints’ Ward-Prowse broke the deadlock on 14 minutes, then Calvert-Lewin’s header (21) and Raheem Sterling’s finish (31) gave them a comfortable lead at half time.

Calvert-Lewin tapped in a fourth (53) from Jesse Lingard’s cutback and Watkins (83) came off the bench to mark his rise from League Two football to the international stage by adding a fifth, and boy was he beaming post-match, judging from the interview going viral.

“It’s unbelievable, it’s what I’ve dreamt about to be honest.” 🤩

Ollie Watkins reacts after marking his international debut with a goal! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 pic.twitter.com/dbmkCEOILs

— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) March 25, 2021

It has to be said that San Marino goalkeeper Elia Benedettini gave a superb performance despite the thrashing, limiting England to a rather modest return from their 32 shots at goal, also beautifully saving a free kick coming his way.

As mentioned however, viewers left angry by a controversial England decision during their match.

Normally when the Three Lions play their matches at Wembley, they wear their home kit, however for some unknown reason on Tuesday, they put on their away strip.

It left many wondering why with others confused. When comparing England’s kit choices to San Marino, the only logical decision to prevent a kit clash was to have England in the away kit and their opposition in their third strip.

Plus when you factor in people’s colorblindness, this was the correct decision, though it’s still left many complaining…

England at home in blue against a team that usually wears blue. Bonkers and embarrassing. 🤷‍♂️

Football fixtures now double as commercial opportunities, a chance to maximise revenue by showcasing merchandise. #ENGSMR https://t.co/cobZya6EWq

— Kit Crimes ⚽️ (@KitCrimes) March 25, 2021

@Greenfield19R: Sums up the state of the modern game – 💰 & greed. Not for me thankyou.

@SimonLunk: Ridiculous

@Milo_Corrigan11: I was actually confused which team was England

@AshcroftTheRed: Iceland wearing all white whilst playing Germany away. Germany in all black.

@LukeyJT91: Same with Wales V Belgium last night

@pjerome8: It’s a sick joke, just confirms what most of us already know, the game is all about money and bollocks to tradition 🤬

@snevinoj: Why have England taken to the field wearing the blue of San Marino? I thought the Sammarinese had taken a shock lead. It doesn’t help that San Marino are wearing the white kit I’d normally associate with England at Wembley. Forza! Forza!

@ju_no1: England, playing San Marino, in an empty stadium, in a blue kit, with no crowd and Gareth Southgate in charge. I’d rather watch repeats of Mrs Brown’s Boys.

@LukeMorgan92: This international break has been a farce so far in terms of kits. Plenty of away vs away (or third, in this case)

@AndyHornby: Absolutely pathetic from England.

@WestDiscGolf: England Home kit is white. England are playing at home. Why are they playing in blue!?

@Lambertnffc: Not only that, it’s arguably the worst England kit ever

@Russlads: Why are England playing in a blue kit when they are at home?

@Berrrrrrrrry: I’m losing my fucking mind seeing England play in their blue away kit, at home, against a team who’s 20/21 kits are light Blue or Black. Make it make sense

@BonoITFC: Great Blue kit we have but please @England let’s not commit a @KitCrimes and wear Blue at home for absolutely no reason other than commercial, absolutely grips my you know what

@pagechord: Why are #England playing in this blue kit? Have we played in this before? It doesn’t sit well with me, we are the home team. Is this just another avenue to make money out of fans?

@zacstephenson: This has been infuriating me for years. A Barca v Real match where Madrid wore green. Man Utd v Liverpool where NEITHER side wore red. It’s a calculated attempt to further erode tradition in the interest of finance.

@_CraigRoberts: @FA I don’t like England playing in dark blue, it looks terrible that kit there in tonight. White are the red with white shorts would have been better.

@mikechurm82: Sadly it’s all down to kit deals now. They have to be worn a certain number of games. A match quota if you like. Exhibit F of the negative effect of the globalisation of the game. Take me back to when the game was ours and Dejan Savicevic was just a name read in World Soccer.

@TheTrevorDurham: Why are England wearing their away kit for this home fixture? And why on Earth is it blue, rather than the proper red shirts and white shorts?

 

England playing at home but wearing blue, despite playing San Marino who normally wear blue, but are now forced into wearing a white kit.
What a disgrace and an embarrassment.#ENGSMR pic.twitter.com/eEZ76JNpUC

— David Bowman (@davidjb1988) March 25, 2021

Player ratings

England: Pope (N/A), James (8), Coady (6), Stones (6), Chilwell (8), Phillips (6), Ward-Prowse (7), Lingard (7), Mount (8), Sterling (8), Calvert-Lewin (8).

Subs: Foden (7), Mings (5), Bellingham (7), Trippier (5), Watkins (8)

Man of the match: Dominic Calvert-Lewin

Gareth Southgate: “It was a game we were expected to win and win comfortably but I was particularly pleased with the mentality for the full 90 minutes. The way we pressed the ball when we lost it was the biggest indication of that. The whole team were hungry to play.

“Sometimes these games have been stodgy for us in the past but this team can play slightly differently, we have some creative players who can open teams up. A lot of those chances were created by the good pressing and winning the ball high up the pitch. But also some of the inter-change of position and the vision of players. If we were to be ultra critical, we probably should have scored more but we also have to say their goalkeeper had an absolutely fantastic game.

“I was very pleased because the behaviours and habits we showed, to be a top team we have to show those every day, in every training session, and every match and today we respected the game and went about it the right way.”

San Marino’s Franco Varrella: “If we consider only the final score, England for sure is better than San Marino more than a five goal difference. I’m a little bit disappointed because I don’t think we did well what we are able to do. For example, on the second goal, the goalkeeper would have done better in that situation.

“In the second half we played better in managing the space and avoiding being attracted to the possession of the skilled English players. But we have to consider the head coach of England substituted two central midfielders at half-time and those were very, very skilled and maybe also the possession of England suffered something about that.”