Defoe strikes on return

Jermain Defoe adorned his international comeback with a goal as England toiled to a 2-0 victory over Lithuania in a forgettable World Cup qualifier at Wembley on Sunday.

Defoe, 34, was making his first England appearance since November 2013, having been recalled by manager Gareth Southgate, and he marked his return with the opening goal midway through the second half.

Substitute Jamie Vardy added a second goal as England tightened their grip on first place in UEFA qualifying Group F in Southgate's first home game as permanent manager.

His side are now the last team in European qualifying yet to have conceded a goal.

Defoe's strike, the Sunderland veteran's 20th in 56 caps, was an obvious high point and second-half substitute Marcus Rashford delivered an impressive cameo.

But the stubbornly unadventurous nature of Lithuania's approach to the game, which made for a soporific match, meant there was little to shout about from an England perspective.

The game was preceded by the laying of wreaths and a minute's silence in honour of the four people killed and over 50 injured in Wednesday's terror attack in London.

Defoe's penalty-box cunning was one of the reasons Southgate picked him over Vardy and he vindicated his manager's call by putting England ahead in the 22nd minute.

Raheem Sterling slipped past Egidijus Vaitkunas on the left before rolling in a cross that Defoe planted into the net for his first international goal since March 2013.

He threatened to notch a 21st England goal moments later, thudding a shot wide from range. Joe Hart, captain for the day, had been a virtual bystander, but the England goalkeeper was almost embarrassed in first-half stoppage time.

The assistant referee's flag stayed down despite Nerijus Valskis appearing to be blatantly offside and the Lithuanian forward managed to head the ball past Hart, obliging John Stones to hack clear.

As England continued to labour in the second half, they were given another let-off when Vykintas Slivka was unable to find a way past Hart with a free shot from just inside the box.

Short of an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain shot that Setkus parried, England were offering little in attack and in the 59th minute Southgate turned to his bench, sending on Vardy and Rashford.

Vardy took just seven minutes to find the net, steering a shot between Setkus and his left-hand post after Lallana delicately flicked Kyle Walker's pass into his path.

England continued to dominate, but could not add to their lead despite Rashford's best efforts.

In another match featuring a high-profile team, Germany leaked their first goal since July but still extended their perfect record in World Cup qualifiers to five straight wins following Sunday's 4-1 victory away to Azerbaijan with Andre Schuerrle scoring twice.

First-half goals by Schuerrle, Thomas Mueller and Mario Gomez put the world champions 3-1 up at the break, although Azerbaijan midfielder Dimitrij Nazarov, who plays in Germany, had netted an early equaliser to the delight of the home crowd.

It was the first goal Germany had conceded following seven previous clean sheets -- a national team record -- dating back to their 2-0 defeat in Marseille against France in the semi-finals of Euro 2016.

However, Schuerrle added a late second goal to reward the faith shown in him by Germany's head coach Joachim Loew despite a series of below-par displays for Borussia Dortmund.

The away win means Germany stay top of Group C with five wins from five, scoring 20 goals and having now conceded just once.

Germany were near full strength, but with captain and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer out with the calf injury, Bayer Leverkusen's Bernd Leno made only his fourth appearance between the posts.