Internationals - Harry hits treble as England thrash Albania

Harry Kane scored a perfect first-half hat-trick as England moved to within a point of securing World Cup qualification with a 5-0 victory over Albania at Wembley on Friday night.

Nodding in Jordan Henderson’s cross for 2-0 inside 18 minutes, Harry provided the assist for Henderson to make it 3-0 before lashing home left-footed on 33 minutes and then completing the set with a stunning right-footed scissor kick following a corner in first-half stoppage time.

Defender Harry Maguire had earlier opened the scoring as Gareth Southgate’s men cruised out of sight before the break, leaving themselves in need of just a solitary point from their final qualifier in San Marino on Monday to rubber-stamp their place in Qatar next year.

Replaced by Tammy Abraham on 63 minutes, England captain Harry left the field at the national stadium having secured his fourth senior international hat-trick. Memorably netting a treble in a 6-1 thrashing of Panama at the World Cup in 2018, he subsequently repeated the feat in high-scoring victories in European Championship qualifiers against Bulgaria (4-0) and Montenegro (7-0) in 2019.

In bagging his latest treble, Harry took his tally to 39 competitive goals for England, breaking Wayne Rooney’s record of 37. He’s now joint fourth with Jimmy Greaves on the all-time top scorers list for the Three Lions with 44 goals overall.

Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo Celso took a step closer to Qatar as Argentina overcame Uruguay 1-0 in Montevideo in the early hours of Saturday morning. Both started at the Campeon del Siglo Stadium - Cristian played the full 90 minutes, Gio was replaced by Lionel Messi on 76 - as Angel Di Maria's early goal proved enough, despite plenty of pressure from the home side, led by Luis Suarez.

The win stretched Argentina's unbeaten run to 26 matches, including 12 in South American World Cup qualifying, where they remain second behind Brazil - who secured a place in the finals on Friday - and 12 points ahead of Chile, currently in the final fourth automatic qualifying spot, Colombia and Uruguay, who all have five games remaining.

Saturday’s fixtures

Matthew Craig and Michael Craig - Scotland Under-19s European Under-19 Championship qualifier against Gibraltar in Croatia - kick-off 10am
Thimothee Lo-Tutala - France Under-19s European Under-19 Championship qualifier against North Macedonia in Albania - kick-off 11am
Nile John and Dane Scarlett - England Under-19s European Under-19 Championship qualifier against Switzerland in Sweden - kick-off 12pm
Steven Bergwijn - Netherlands away 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Montenegro - kick-off 7.45pm
Ben Davies and Joe Rodon - Wales home 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Belarus - kick-off 7.45pm
Hugo Lloris - France home 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan - kick-off 7.45pm
Maksim Paskotsi - Estonia away 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Belgium - kick-off 7.45pm
Isak Solberg - Norway Under-19s friendly against Slovakia in Spain
Will Andiyapan - Wales Under-17s European Under-17 Championship qualifier against Portugal in Portugal - kick-off 5pm