PARIS, OCTOBER 9: ENGLAND ground out a 2-0 victory over Malta in 2018 World Cup qualifier with interim manager Gareth Southgate's first game in charge, Daniel Sturridge and Dele Alli scored for England during the first half at the Wembley Stadium here on Saturday evening as England laboured to a hard-earned win over a side many among the 82,000-strong home crowd had perhaps imagined would be easy meat.
Rooney was employed in a midfield role by Southgate where the Manchester United star struggled to impress and was booed by several England fans.
"If you look at the number of games and his (Rooney) goalscoring feats for England, I don't quite understand that (booing). The criticism of him is, at times, unfair," Southgate told the local media after the match.
While Thomas Mueller scored a brace as Germany defeated the Czech Republic 3-0 in World Cup football qualifying Group C match.
The reigning FIFA World Cup champions reaped the second win in as many games, as the goals from Thomas Mueller and Toni Kroos secured a comfortable win at sold out Volkspark Stadium here on Saturday, reports Xinhua.
The visitors staged an offensively minded performance while Germany implemented a wait-and-see strategy before Thomas Mueller broke the deadlock 13 minutes into the game after poking home Mario Goetze's square pass at the far post.
Despite Germany's early goal the visitors continued to play offensively, allowing the hosts to work out chance after chance as Mueller and Goetze squandered promising opportunities before the break.
After the restart, Germany remained in control of the proceedings on the pitch as Toni Kroos slotted home Joshua Kimmich's square pass from outside of the box to make it 2-0 on the scoreboards with four minutes into the second half.
The Germans should have added a third goal but Czech Republic goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik defused Mesut Oezil's lob on target with 58 minutes played.
Karel Jarolim's men threatened the hosts for the first time in the 64th minute when Borek Dockal's effort forced Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer to make a safe.
Nevertheless, it were only the hosts who kept Czech Republic's defense busy as Mueller made the game safe with his fourth goal of the campaign in the 65th minute following Jonas Hector's square pass.
Commenting on the match, Germany coach Joachim Loew said: "I am very pleased today. We controlled the match over ninety minutes. It was a good game by my tea.
