{"id":1313660,"date":"2023-06-19T21:39:07","date_gmt":"2023-06-19T20:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1313660"},"modified":"2023-06-19T21:39:27","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T20:39:27","slug":"england-north-macedonia-player-ratings-saka-rashford-kane","status":"publish","type":"features","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/england-north-macedonia-player-ratings-saka-rashford-kane\/","title":{"rendered":"England 7-0 North Macedonia: Player ratings as Saka hat-trick inspires Old Trafford win"},"content":{"rendered":"

England thrashed North Macedonia 7-0 on Monday night to continue their perfect start to Euro 2024 qualifying.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Harry Kane gave England the lead after what had been an intense first half hour but things then opened up with Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford adding to the score before half time.<\/p>\n

Within five minutes of the restart, Saka had completed his hat-trick and England were in cruise control with Kalvin Phillips and Kane rounding off the scoring to make it four wins from four for the Three Lions.<\/p>\n

Here’s how the players rated at Old Trafford:<\/p>\n

England<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Jordan Pickford – 6 – <\/strong>A spectator alongside 70,708 others a Old Trafford.<\/p>\n

Kyle Walker -8 – <\/strong>Spent a lot of time in the North Macedonia half looking to combine with Saka and played a great pass into the forward to set up the second goal.<\/p>\n

John Stones – 7 – <\/strong>Pep Guardiola’s midfielder looked as though he’d been playing centre-back all his life, though he was relatively untested.<\/p>\n

Harry Maguire – 7 – <\/strong>Had almost nothing to do defensively and could have got an assist after neat link up with Rashford inside the opposition box.<\/p>\n

Luke Shaw – 8 – <\/strong>Produced a great overlapping run to set up Kane’s goal, ghosting into the box with good awareness to cut back rather than drill the ball across the face of the goal.<\/p>\n

Trent Alexander-Arnold – 8 – <\/strong>Perhaps slightly less influential in the first half, Alexander-Arnold was still a good presence in midfield and combined well with Walker and Saka for the latter’s first-half goal. Then got an assist with an excellent ball over the top for Saka’s rocket, growing a bigger part of the game. This is his role.<\/p>\n

Declan Rice – 7 – <\/strong>Quietly marshalled the midfield.<\/p>\n

Jordan Henderson – 8 – <\/strong>Pushing forward quite a lot and did well to set up the third goal. His best England performance for a while.<\/p>\n

Bukayo Saka – 10 – <\/strong>Had England’s first opportunity inside the opening minutes with a good touch and shot following a throw in. Caused problems down England’s right and made it 2-0 with a wonderful finish, powering his shot into the roof of the net at the near post. His second goal was even better, taking down Alexander-Arnold’s long ball before rifling a shot into the top corner. Completed his hat-trick, timing his run perfectly to beat the offside trap.<\/p>\n

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Bukayo Saka is the youngest player to score a hat-trick for England since Theo Walcott became the country’s youngest-ever hat-trick hero in 2008 (19 years old).<\/p>\n

21 years old. \u2728 pic.twitter.com\/7rq8fMmrsy<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Squawka Live (@Squawka_Live) June 19, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n