Finger fuss takes shine off England

Midfielder Alli caught giving obscene 'salute'

LONDON - England could face disciplinary action against Dele Alli after the midfielder was caught on camera making an obscene gesture during Monday's 2-1 World Cup qualifier victory over Slovakia.

The Tottenham Hotspur player raised his middle finger during the 77th minute of the match at Wembley, and there were claims it was directed at French referee Clement Turpin.

England manager Gareth Southgate played down the incident, saying Alli had been sharing a joke with teammate Kyle Walker, but if FIFA decides to investigate, the 21-year-old could face punishment.

"I've not seen it, but I've been made aware of it," Southgate said at his post-match media conference.

"Kyle and Dele were mucking about and Dele's made a gesture towards Kyle. I don't know what the angle picked up by the camera is, so I don't know if that is clear who it was aimed at.

"The pair of them have a strange way of communicating ... but that's what they've said when it's been raised."

It was not clear from footage of the match who Alli had aimed his gesture at.

In a recent precedent, Lionel Messi was given a four-game ban for swearing at an assistant referee during a World Cup qualifier between Argentina and Chile in March, although his suspension was overturned on appeal.

The controversy generated by Alli overshadowed a positive evening for England, which now requires two points from its final two group games against Slovenia and Lithuania to qualify for next year's World Cup.

The Group F leader fell behind in the third minute when a careless touch by Marcus Rashford was compounded by a lapse of attention by the Manchester United forward that allowed Stanislav Lobotka to run in and score.

But Rashford's corner set up Eric Dier to equalize with a deft near-post flick in the 37th minute and the 19-year-old fully redeemed himself by arrowing the winning goal past Martin Dubravka on the hour.

Southgate praised Rashford for relegating his early miscue to the back of his mind.

"It didn't surprise me. Having worked with him, he's such a mature character," said Southgate, who switched Rashford from the right flank to the left flank late in the first half.

"The start surprised me, but the switch of wings was important as well. It allowed him a slightly different defensive role and he adapted very well to that.

"His maturity is excellent. You look at him and he's never in awe of the occasion. He doesn't have any fear of anything.

"I don't think the team did, either, and they responded well. Marcus is still a work in progress as we saw at the beginning of the game, but he's getting stronger.

"His impact in taking people on and getting us up the pitch on the counter attack was huge. He had a huge impact on the game."

While England's path to Russia is now clear, second-place Slovakia's is strewn with obstacles after a result that allowed both Slovenia and Scotland to close to within just a point.

Slovakia visits Scotland on Oct 5 and coach Jan Kozak knows his side's hope of securing a playoff spot could come down to how it fares in Glasgow.

"Before the matches against Slovenia and England, we wanted to have the situation in our own hands before the last two games and we still have the situation in our own hands," Kozak said.

"It will be difficult, but we're strong and our quality is going up, so hopefully the result against Scotland will be better than today."

Agence France-Presse