Ben Chilwell scores first England goal; Broja scores again for Albania!

Ben Chilwell was a late call-up to the England squad, but he got the start last night against Andorra, and he repaid that faith with his first career international goal. After scoring in Chelsea’s last match as well, Chilwell has two goals in two games, and has hopefully put behind him his slow start to the season that saw him ride the bench for Chelsea for most of the first two months.

Chilwell’s goal got the five-goal party started for the Three Lions, as he collected an excellent layoff from Jadon Sancho and finished with assured calmness beyond the goalkeeper. (Sancho would also go on to set up Tammy Abraham, another late addition, for England’s third goal.)

Mason Mount played the final 20 minutes in the easy win for England, which puts them top of Group I in World Cup qualifying, four points ahead of Albania, who (surprisingly?) beat Hungary, 1-0, thanks another goal from young Chelsea loanee Armando Broja.

Broja also scored in last month’s 1-0 win over Hungary, and repeated that trick with a tight-angle finish after dribbling past a couple defenders. Hungary were playing behind closed doors after UEFA sanctions following their latest incidence of racial abuse, directed at England players back in September. Broja, who recently turned 20 years old, has 3 goals in 9 senior international appearances for Albania. (He has 2 goals in 5 appearances on loan at Southampton, in all competitions.)

Elsewhere, Andreas Christensen played the full game as Denmark easily beat Moldova, 4-0, and Billy Gilmour played almost the entire game as Scotland scored a stoppage-time winner against Israel, 3-2.

Meanwhile, over in Africa, Édouard Mendy backstopped Senegal to a straightforward 4-1 win over Namibia, while Chelsea loanee Baba Rahman played the full-90 as Ghana took care of business against Zimbabwe, 3-1.

Well done, all.