England U21 2-0 Kosovo U21: Phil Foden double fires hosts to victory

After a lack of opportunities for his club, Man City's starlet revelled playing 90 minutes

Monday 9 September 2019 22:22, UK

Phil Foden scored twice for England U21s as they made it two wins in a row after beating Kosovo U21s 2-0 on Monday night.

Having played just 10 minutes of Premier League football for Manchester City this season, Foden looked keen to impress at KCOM Stadium and poked England in front from close range (25).

Kosovo were a tough nut to crack and it took until injury-time, when Foden again was on hand to fire home from 10 yards, for England to rubber-stamp their victory.

After a disappointing European Championships campaign in the summer, Aidy Boothroyd's side have responded well in their opening Euro 2021 qualifiers, taking maximum points from their two games.

Kosovo, top of Group Three at kick-off after wins against Andorra and Turkey, began full of confidence and the impressive Lirim Kastrati saw his low shot turned away for a corner early on.

England settled into their stride and Foden was on hand to fire home the rebound when Steven Sessegnon's shot was cleared off the line.

Reiss Nelson and Tom Davies both went close before the break but Kosovo should have levelled when Arbnor Muja somehow spooned an effort from three yards onto the crossbar.

Eddie Nketiah pulled a low effort wide after the break as England remained in control without ever looking that dangerous in the final third.

That wastefulness in the final third almost came back to bite but Max Aarons denied Kosovo a clear scoring chance with a fantastic sliding challenge inside his own six-yard box that resulted in him limping off with an ankle injury.

Foden final wrapped up the points in injury time, latching onto a loose ball inside the area and firing home to maintain England's 100 per cent record in Group Three.