{"id":46941,"date":"2025-10-14T22:32:03","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T22:32:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=46941"},"modified":"2025-10-14T22:32:05","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T22:32:05","slug":"england-beats-latvia-to-qualify-for-2026-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2025\/10\/14\/england-beats-latvia-to-qualify-for-2026-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"England beats Latvia to qualify for 2026 World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It was the night when England confirmed the inevitable. Thomas Tuchel and his players are going to the World Cup<\/a> finals tournament next summer as the winners of qualifying Group K, their progress serene, their record \u2013 with two ties still to tick off next month \u2013 without blemish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The serious business awaits, the only frisson of jeopardy here provided by the England fans, who sought to make a few points to Tuchel during the first half after his criticism of the Wembley crowd<\/a>in the 3-0 friendly victory against Wales last Thursday. He had complained about them being too quiet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was another commanding performance from Tuchel\u2019s team, albeit against lowly opposition who seemed to appreciate that they had zero chance. Anthony Gordon opened the scoring then Harry Kane added two more before the interval to take his England<\/a> tally to 76.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was only ever going to be a question of how many. And whether England could record their sixth clean sheet in six qualifying victories. They could, which meant a ninth in succession for the goalkeeper, Jordan Pickford; an extension of his England record. Once again, he had precious little thrown at him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

England\u2019s fourth goal dribbled in apologetically off Maksims Tonisevs, on as a Latvia<\/a> substitute, while another replacement, Eberechi Eze, added the fifth. England can only beat what is in front of them. They have done so. With increasing assurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a back\u2011to\u2011the\u2011future kind of vibe, the tiny stadium a real throwback. It was not so much the running track that kept the fans well back from the pitch, rather the fact that only the lower tier of the main stand had a roof. Then there were the tall trees that lined one side of the ground; no seats over there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Thomas<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The scene was truly set by what the travelling England support sang in the opening minutes. \u201cThomas Tuchel, we\u2019ll sing when we want.\u201d Then: \u201cAre we loud enough for you?\u201d And: \u201cOur support is fucking shit.\u201d Was it good\u2011natured? Yes and no. There had been one or two boos when Tuchel\u2019s name was read out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuchel went strong with his lineup, the only surprise being the omission of Marc Gu\u00e9hi, who the manager said was rested after the player\u2019s recent workload. Ezri Konsa partnered John Stones in the centre of defence, with Myles Lewis\u2011Skelly brought back in at left-back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Anthony<\/a>
Anthony Gordon fires home England\u2019s opening goal in the 26th minute. Photograph: Michael Regan\/The FA\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

England were confronted by the familiar sight of an opponent in a 5\u20114\u20111 shape. It was a slow-burning start. Kane had the ball in the net only for an offside flag to go up against Bukayo Saka in the buildup, while the captain wasted a clear chance after a give-and-go with Gordon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sideshow of the England fans versus Tuchel vied for prominence. \u201cTuchel, Tuchel, give us a song.\u201d Which led to a wave from him. Then: \u201cWhere were you when we were shit?\u201d Tuchel says he loves the English sense of humour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where Latvia went wrong was trying to launch an attack. Up until the 26th minute, they had been extremely compact. But when they ventured forward and gave up possession, Stones launched a long ball back and Gordon had a one\u2011on\u2011one against the right wing\u2011back, Raivis Jurkovskis; some room in which to work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was the night when England confirmed the inevitable. Thomas Tuchel and his players are going to the World Cup finals tournament next summer as the winners of qualifying Group K, their progress serene, their record \u2013 with two ties still to tick off next month \u2013 without blemish. The serious business awaits, the only frisson of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":46942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3295],"tags":[7273,5304,8587,10446,8924,1258,7712,9026,3577,803,69,1259,6654,3307,12186,12791,2104,13256,8840,7333,7857,10304,6348,10885,1254,6076,12851,10415,36,5248,7208,594],"class_list":["post-46941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-sport","tag-anthony","tag-attack","tag-bukayo-saka","tag-burning","tag-chance","tag-england","tag-english","tag-fans","tag-future","tag-goalkeeper","tag-harry","tag-harry-kane","tag-jordan","tag-konsa","tag-latvia","tag-manager","tag-pickford","tag-players","tag-strong","tag-summer","tag-thomas-tuchel","tag-trees","tag-us","tag-victory","tag-wales","tag-wembley","tag-winners","tag-work","tag-world","tag-world-cup","tag-world-cup-2026","tag-who"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46941"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46943,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46941\/revisions\/46943"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}