England striker Jermain Defoe made a scoring return to the international stage and substitute Jamie Vardy added a second goal as the hosts laboured to a 2-0 victory over Lithuania in World Cup qualifying Group F on Sunday.
Veteran Defoe, making his first appearance for nearly 3-1/2 years, fired lacklustre England ahead in the 21st minute at Wembley but Gareth Southgate’s team struggled to finish off a Lithuania side who are 93 places lower in the FIFA rankings.
England survived a couple of worrying moments and had to wait until the 66th minute to double their lead when Defoe’s replacement Vardy finished neatly shortly after coming on.
It was hardly an emphatic performance but the result kept England top of Group F with 13 points from five games, five more the Slovenia who visit Scotland later on Sunday.
England’s plodding pace allowed Lithuania a relatively comfortable opening 20 minutes on a balmy afternoon.
England completely dominated possession but barely tested Ernestas Setkus’s goal as their passing lacked pace.
It took 34-year-old Sunderland striker Defoe to inject some spark, first latching on to Adam Lallana’s clever reverse pass to force a fine save from Setkus and then firing England ahead with his 20th goal for his country.
Raheem Sterling burst towards the byline and squared the ball for Defoe to plant a shot past Setkus – his first England goal since bagging two against San Marino four years ago.
The lively Defoe flashed another snap-shot just wide but England toiled away bluntly against Lithuania’s yellow wall.
The hosts had a scare on the stroke of halftime when a clearly offside Nerijus Valskis headed towards an open goal under pressure from goalkeeper Joe Hart but his weak effort was cleared off the line by a retreating John Stones.
There was no discernible change of gear at the start of the second half as fans ambled back to their seats.
Lithuania had a half-chance when Vykintas Slivka’s deflected shot was comfortably gathered by captain Hart.
England responded with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s 25-metre effort clawed away by a flying Setkus.
Defoe then made way for Vardy – with Marcus Rashford replacing Sterling – and the Leicester City striker made an instant impact, scoring with a neat finish from Lallana’s pass.
World champions Germany cruised to a comfortable 4-1 victory over Azerbaijan on Sunday to stay on track for a spot in next year’s World Cup in Russia after opening up a seven-point lead in Group C.
First-half goals from Andre Schuerrle, Thomas Mueller and Mario Gomez put the visitors in control of the game in Baku with the hosts briefly equalising.
Schuerrle scored his second of the evening 10 minutes from time to give the Germans their fifth win in five qualifying matches and stretch their unbeaten run on the road in World Cup qualifiers to 44.
They are top of the group on 15 points. Group winners automatically qualify for the World Cup.
The Czech Republic are second on eight following their demolition of San Marino while Northern Ireland are a point behind and face Norway later on Sunday. Azerbaijan are also on seven.
Schuerrle, whose last start for Germany was back in October 2015, made the most of his chance, tapping in after 19 minutes following good work down the wing from Jonas Hector.
Coach Joachim Loew made seven changes to the team that beat England 1-0 in their friendly earlier this week, with Julian Draxler, Gomez and Mueller in the starting lineup.
The Germans conceded their first goal of the campaign when Dmitrij Nazarov sneaked into the box and fired in the equaliser in the 30th against the run of play.
Azerbaijan’s joy was short-lived, with Schuerrle pouncing on a defensive error to send Mueller through, and the attacking midfielder had no trouble rounding the keeper to put the visitors back into the driving seat in the 36th.
Gomez, who has scored in his last three league matches, headed in their third on the stroke of halftime.
The Azeris failed to mount any serious challenge in the second half with Germany content to control possession and set the pace. Schuerrle completed their win with a powerful shot from 12 metres out.
Summaries from the World Cup Qualifying European matches on Sunday
Sunday, March 26
San Marino 0
Czech Republic 6 Antonin Barak 17,23, Vladimir Darida 19,76pen, Theodor Gebre Selassie 25, Michal Krmencik 42
– – –
Azerbaijan 1 Dimitrij Nazarov 30
Germany 4 Andre Schuerrle 19,80, Thomas Mueller 35, Mario Gomez 44
– – –
Armenia 2 Henrikh Mkhitaryan 73, Aras OEzbiliz 75
Kazakhstan 0
– – –
England 2 Jermain Defoe 21, Jamie Vardy 66
Lithuania 0
– – –
Saturday, March 25
Bulgaria 2 Spas Delev 5,20
Netherlands 0
– – –
Luxembourg 1 Aurelien Joachim 34pen
France 3 Olivier Giroud 28,77, Antoine Griezmann 37pen
– – –
Portugal 3 Andre Silva 32, Cristiano Ronaldo 36,65
Hungary 0
– – –
Belgium 1 Romelu Lukaku 89
Greece 1 Kostantinos Mitroglou 46
– – –
Sweden 4 Emil Forsberg 19pen,49, Marcus Berg 57, Isaac Thelin 78
Belarus 0
– – –
Switzerland 1 Josip Drmic 66
Latvia 0
– – –
Andorra 0
Faroe Islands 0
– – –
Cyprus 0
Estonia 0
– – –
Bosnia 5 Vedad Ibisevic 4,43, Avdija Vrsajevic 52, Edin Visca 56, Ermin Bicakcic 90+3
Gibraltar 0
– – –
Friday, March 24
Austria 2 Marko Arnautovic 75, Martin Harnik 90
Moldova 0
– – –
Ireland 0
Wales 0
– – –
Liechtenstein 0
Macedonia 3 Boban Nikolov 43, Ilja Nestorovski 68,73
– – –
Italy 2 Daniele De Rossi 12pen, Ciro Immobile 71
Albania 0
– – –
Spain 4 David Silva 13, Vitolo 45+1, Diego Costa 51, Isco 88
Israel 1 Lior Refaelov 76
– – –
Croatia 1 Nikola Kalinic 38
Ukraine 0
– – –
Kosovo 1 Atdhe Nuhiu 52
Iceland 2 Bjorn Bergmann Sigurdarson 25, Gylfi Sigurdsson 35pen
– – –
Georgia 1 Nika Kacharava 6
Serbia 3 Dusan Tadic 45pen, Aleksandar Mitrovic 64, Mijat Gacinovic 86
– – –
Turkey 2 Cenk Tosun 9,13
Finland 0
– – –
Next Fixtures (GMT):
Sunday, March 26
Northern Ireland v Norway (1845)
Montenegro v Poland (1845)
Romania v Denmark (1845)
Malta v Slovakia (1845)
Scotland v Slovenia (1845)