England qualify for the European Championship with a win over Italy

LONDON: England became the ninth team to book a place at next year’s European Championship after beating Italy 3-1 at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday, two years on from losing the final to the Italians at the same venue.

Denmark and Hungary also could have qualified Tuesday but both must wait until the next qualifying games in November. And tiny San Marino briefly looked on track for a historic draw in their narrow loss to the Danes.

Italy took the lead with a goal for Gianluca Scamacca — his first for his country — but England turned the game around with two goals from captain Harry Kane and one from Marcus Rashford.

England join host nation Germany and previously qualified Austria, Belgium, France, Portugal, Scotland, Spain and Turkiye at next year’s 24-team tournament.

Defeat to England deepened the gloom around the Italian team amid a scandal around players’ alleged involvement in an illegal betting ring. Premier League midfielders Sandro Tonali and Nicolò Zaniolo left the Italy camp last week after being questioned by police.

Italy’s game with Ukraine on Nov. 20 will decide which team gets the second qualifying spot in Group C along with England. Italy is seeking to avoid missing a second tournament in a row after failing to qualify for the World Cup last year. The decider is officially a home game for Ukraine but will take place in Germany because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Ukrainians had to recover from a goal down to beat Malta 3-1. The win was sealed when Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk scored a powerful long-range shot for his first international goal.

NEARLY SAN MARINO’S MOMENT

San Marino threatened the greatest shock in its soccer history as it held the score level with Denmark at 1-1 until