Welbeck fires England to winning start against Switzerland - Euro 2016 qualifier, Basel: Switzerland 0, England 2 (Welbeck 58, 90+4)
Danny Welbeck's brace got England's Euro 2016 campaign off to a superb start as they beat Switzerland 2-0 at St Jakob Stadium in Basel.
Welbeck scored both goals in perhaps the toughest game in this qualifying group, as Roy Hodgson’s side impressively swept past a side 11 places above them in the FIFA rankings.
England were the better side for much of the game, Hodgson’s diamond midfield producing the sort of dynamism and attacking potency that it was designed to deliver.
Yet as the first half came to a close it looked as if they would not make their dominance pay, with several good chances wasted - not least Welbeck failing to find Wayne Rooney or Raheem Sterling with a free pass when both were unmarked in the box.
But England finally opened the scoring just before the hour mark, and Welbeck made up for that error as he capped a fine counter-attack down the left with some good combinations between Rooney and Sterling. The duo carved out a chance for Welbeck to slot home with aplomb, although there was a suspicion that it came off his shin.
Switzerland went close on a few occasions after England took the lead, most notably when Gary Cahill produced a fine sliding block after Josip Drmic had rounded Joe Hart and guided the ball towards the gaping goal.
That was as close as the Swiss came before Welbeck rounded things off in injury time, sweeping home after Sterling and substitute Rickie Lambert had combined well on the counter-attack. - Eurosport
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