Tuchel’s England start new era at Wembley

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England v Albania Preview

Taking their first step towards qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, England get their campaign under way against Albania.

Author - Georgia Baker

England 2 - 1 Switzerland

New boss Thomas Tuchel will lead the Three Lions out at Wembley for his first fixture in charge of the runners up from Euro 2024.

How are England shaping up ahead of their new era?

After wrapping up their latest UEFA Nations League campaign in style, England kick off 2025 with their opening qualifier for the next World Cup, which will be hosted across the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

The qualifiers take place over five international windows between now and November, with only the top team from each of the 12 groups securing automatic qualification. Meanwhile, the runners-up will have to go through the play-offs.

This month, England will look to take charge of Group K as they begin their journey under Tuchel. One of the favourites for World Cup glory, they start with a home fixture against Albania on Friday before facing Latvia in London three days later.

READ MORE: England’s greatest World Cup qualifiers

With Serbia and Andorra also in the group, the Three Lions are widely expected to finish top—thanks not only to the talent at Tuchel’s disposal but also their impressive track record in World Cup qualification.

What could England achieve in 2026?

This is a big question. Under former boss Gareth Southgate, they reached back-to-back European Championship finals but Tuchel has been reportedly critical of their style of play at Euro 2024. 

They arguably under achieved in 2022 when they lost to France but will be seen as one of the favourites to win the World Cup in the summer of 2026. 

More experience for the likes of Jude Bellingham, Cole Palmer and Kobbie Mainoo playing at the highest level will only benefit Tuchel and England aswell and it will be interesting to see how the former Chelsea boss utlilises them once they're all fit and available. He'll also have the experience of captain Harry Kane.

Can Albania cause a shock?

They have only scored just one goal across those half-dozen encounters against their opponents, most recently losing 5-0 in qualifying for the 2022 World Cup. 

While England achieved promotion back to Europe's top tier in this season's Nations League, they were relegated down into League C after losing their last game against Ukraine in November.

In what turned out to be a particularly tight group, they not only saw slim hopes of being promoted falter on the final matchday, a 2-1 defeat saw them automatically relegated.

Nonetheless, they can now start afresh in World Cup qualifying, once again seeking an overdue debut at the global finals.

They'll be huge outsiders for this match and have never won a competitive match against any team in the top 10 of FIFA's world rankings.

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