France, England win Euro qualifiers

0

Associated Press

Paris

Strikers Olivier Giroud and Harry Kane extended their national team scoring records as France and England maintained perfect starts to European Championship qualifying with third straight wins on Friday.

Switzerland also have a maximum nine points after a 2-1 success at Andorra.

Giroud took only three minutes to head home Kingsley Coman’s right-wing cross to make it 54 goals for Les Bleus in a 3-0 win at Gibraltar in Group B.

Kane’s penalty in a 4-0 romp at Malta made it 56 goals for his table-topping nation in Group C.

World Cup runner-up France, who opened their campaign with wins against Ireland and the Netherlands, have yet to concede a goal.

Amid intense speculation regarding his Paris Saint-Germain future, Kylian Mbappé captained Les Bleus at the 30,000-capacity Estádio Algarve in Faro, Portugal.

Mbappé calmly slotted in a penalty in first-half injury time for his 39th France goal. He’s only two behind fellow great Michel Platini, who’s fourth on France’s all-time scoring list.

But coach Didier Deschamps was not satisfied, and demanded more from his team.

“We could have, we should have scored more. We hit the post, the goalkeeper made some saves,” he said. “We can always do better when we play with more speed.”