Now, in fairness, not-captain Gary Cahill gave away one of the two free kicks that Celtic’s Leigh Griffiths scored against England in the final three minutes of Saturday’s World Cup qualifier, and captain Harry Kane scored England’s late-late equalizer in the 93rd minute after doing just about nothing at all the entire game ... but you know, settling for a 2-2 draw against a Scotland side that had won just 2 out of 9 in the last year is so, so very Spursy.
Having selected a Spurs player to captain the side instead of a Champion of England, England treated observers to a wholly unremarkable first hour. The introduction of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain spiced up the proceedings, though his opener had as much to do with some hilarious defending and goalkeeping than skill from the Arsenal man. England then looked to see out their narrow win and probably would’ve, if Scott Brown had received his marching orders as he should have for an elbow on Dele Alli. But he didn’t and Griffiths was given the opportunity to strike twice, which he duly did.
This is not a replay:
Kane’s late equalizer means that England remain on top of their qualifying group for World Cup 2018, but now both Slovenia and Slovakia (presuming they beat Lithuania later today) are back within striking distance. England’s next round of qualifiers are in September, against Malta and Slovakia.