Harry Kane has scored four goals in England's 10-0 demolition of San Marino, as Gareth Southgate's side booked their place in next year's World Cup finals in Qatar.
In truth, England needed only a point against the world's 210th and lowest-ranked footballing nation to guarantee top spot in Group I, so the only real question was how many goals they would deliver to mark the occasion.
Kane duly filled his boots, following up his hat-trick in the 5-0 win against Albania with four goals - including two penalties - before halftime, swelling his England tally to 48 to move joint-third on the all-time list with Gary Lineker.
Harry Maguire began the rout with a sixth-minute header and Filippo Fabbri scored an own goal, before Kane took over to put England 6-0 ahead before the break.
Emile Smith Rowe marked his first England start with the seventh and even after Kane was substituted, the punishment continued for San Marino, who had Dante Rossi sent off for a second yellow card in the 68th minute.
Tyrone Mings, substitute Tammy Abraham and Bukayo Saka all got on the scoresheet in a farcically one-sided match that did little for the reputation of international football.
While the debate about the worth of such fixtures will rumble on, Kane and his teammates will not care, on a night that had statisticians working overtime.
Kane took his calendar-year haul for England to a new record 16, becoming the first England player to score back-to-back hat-tricks since Tommy Taylor in 1957 and the first to score four in a match since Ian Wright against San Marino in 1993.
England hadn't scored 10 in a match, since beating the United States 10-0 in 1964.
In winning the group by six points from Poland, Southgate's side racked up 38 goals, their highest tally in any European or World Cup qualifying campaign.
All that must be countered by the fact that as well as playing San Marino, who have won once in 186 internationals, England also faced Andorra, who are not much better.
Things will toughen up from now on, but they will arrive in Qatar among the favourites.
"Fantastic," says Kane, 28, who is now only five goals behind England's record scorer Wayne Rooney.
"It came to the last game and we were expected to win tonight, but we've done a good job. Fantastic to go through."
Italy face nervous playoffs
Meanwhile, Italy coach Roberto Mancini is upbeat about his side's chances of playing at the World Cup, despite the European champions missing out on an automatic qualification spot.
Four months after their Euro 2020 success, Italy's 0-0 draw in Northern Ireland means Switzerland finish top of Group C, after their 4-0 win over Bulgaria at Lucerne, condemning Mancini's men to the playoffs.
For the second successive World Cup qualification campaign, Italy must contest the playoffs, with only three of the 12 teams progressing to Qatar.
Four years ago, the Azzurri failed to qualify for a World Cup finals tournament for the first time since 1958, after defeat by Sweden in the playoffs over two legs.
"I am very confident for the playoffs," Mancini tells RAI Sport. "Maybe we will even win the World Cup finals.
"We can't do anything about it now, we have these [playoff] games in March and will try to give our best.
"It's a pity, because we should have sealed the group long before it came to this. We just need to rediscover what we were all about up until today."
Switzerland's four-goal winning margin meant Italy needed to win by three goals at Belfast, but the injury-hit visitors offered little in attack, with Northern Ireland having the best chances to claim victory.
"We knew that it was difficult coming here," says Italy forward Domenico Berardi. "We gave our all and were unable to score.
"They put all their defenders behind the ball and it was difficult to break them down.
"It is disappointing we didn't already seal the group earlier. We have to roll our sleeves up, prepare for March and book our spot at the World Cup."
Reuters
