England must use win over Serbia as a template for World Cup, says Kane

England captain Harry Kane said their 5-0 demolition of Serbia on Tuesday in World Cup qualifying should be the template for how they want to play after criticism of their start to coach Thomas Tuchel’s tenure.

England had won all four of their Group K qualifiers going into the match in Belgrade but Tuchel’s tactics and team selections came in for scrutiny after laboured wins over Andorra, Albania and Latvia.

Tuchel’s side were far more impressive on Tuesday, however, with Kane, Noni Madueke, Ezri Konsa, Marcus Rashford and Marc Guehi all getting on the scoresheet.

“There’s been a lot of noise around the outside, but we’ve been happy with what we’ve been doing,” Kane told broadcaster ITV.

“It’s not always been easy against opposition who are sitting in a block of 11 when we have to break them down and be patient.

“We knew tonight would be a really big test against better opposition and better players, we said we wanted to show what we can do especially without the ball with the high pressure and make it difficult for them.”

England are now within touching distance of qualifying for next year’s World Cup finals in North America and Kane said they must use the win over the Serbs as a template.

“This is the time when the competition starts, the formation and the way we play and the style is going to be set in stone,” he added.

“Of course, there might be a few games where we have to change a little bit depending on opposition, but we want to play our way — we want to be on the front foot and win the ball back quick and when we lose the ball, recover well…

“You could say today was the perfect template and we’re going to have difficult games from now until the World Cup but we’ll use this as a starting point and the standard’s been really high.”

England face Wales in a friendly on October 9 next, before taking on Latvia in a qualifier five days later.

Kane headed England’s opener from Declan Rice’s corner in the 33rd minute and minutes later Noni Madueke scored his first senior international goal to double the lead.

Seven minutes after the break it was Ezri Konsa’s turn to open his England account and put the visitors in cruise control with a close-range finish.

Serbia’s night went from bad to worse when Nikola Milenkovic was sent off in the 73rd for a foul on Kane and from Rice’s resulting free kick Marc Guehi arrived to make it 4-0.

Substitute Marcus Rashford rounded it off with a late penalty after a foul on Ollie Watkins as England moved to 15 points from five games and a seven-point lead over Albania.

France striker Kylian Mbappé scored one goal and set up another as the hosts came from behind to claim a fortunate 2-1 win against Iceland, maintaining their perfect start in Group D.

The result left Didier Deschamps’s side top of the standings with six points from two games, three clear of Iceland.

Portugal earned a 3-2 victory at Hungary, with Joao Cancelo scoring a late winner, two minutes after the hosts had equalised, to put them in control at the top of Group F with two away wins from two.

Norway’s Erling Haaland scored five goals and substitute Thelo Aasgaard added four more as they hammered hapless Moldova 11-1 to take another huge step towards qualifying for the World Cup finals for the first time since 1998.

With five games played, the Norwegians top Group I on 15 points, six ahead of second-placed Italy, who have a game in hand.

The group winners qualify for next year’s finals with the runners-up going into the playoffs.

In the final round of South America’s qualifiers on Tuesday, Bolivia shocked Brazil 1-0 to secure a spot in the intercontinental play-offs for next year’s World Cup while Argentina suffered a 1-0 defeat by Ecuador.

Bolivia’s Miguel Terceros converted a penalty in first-half stoppage time to secure the home win over five-time World Cup winners Brazil in La Paz, a result that saw Carlo Ancelotti’s side drop to fifth in the standings.

Bolivia will be joined in the playoffs by two teams from Concacaf and one each from the African, Asian and Oceania confederations in the hunt for two places at the World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the US.

The playoffs will take place in Monterrey and Guadalajara in March.

While Ecuador and reigning champions Argentina had already qualified for the World Cup, there was no shortage of intensity in their match in Guayaquil.

Argentina’s Nicolas Otamendi was sent off in the 31st minute and the hosts capitalised on their numerical advantage when Enner Valencia scored a penalty in first-half stoppage time.

Ecuador were also reduced to 10 men when Moises Caicedo was dismissed in the 50th, but they held firm to claim victory and go second in the table.

Despite the loss, Argentina retained top spot in the standings with 39 points, nine ahead of Ecuador.

Colombia secured third place with a 6-3 victory over Venezuela in Maturin, with Luis Suarez stealing the show by scoring four goals to extinguish Venezuelan hopes of clinching the playoff place.

Uruguay finishing qualifying in fourth place after a 0-0 draw with Chile in Santiago, while Matias Galarza’s strike gave Paraguay a 1-0 win over Peru in Lima, leaving them in sixth place.

The top six South American sides qualified.