\u2018Extremely poor\u2019: Socceroos flop deals key blow to World Cup dream in alarming scenes<\/a><\/p>\nEngland coach Thomas Tuchel reacts as his team do the job against Albania.Source: AP<\/p>\n
Tuchel started his reign with a 2-0 win against Albania in March and the same opponents book-ended a memorable first year in charge for the German.<\/p>\n
Although England wrapped up their World Cup place in October, they followed Tuchel\u2019s demand to stay focused, beating Serbia on Thursday and dispatching obdurate Albania.<\/p>\n
Far sterner tests lie in in wait at the World Cup but Tuchel has recovered from a sluggish start to his reign to provide genuine belief that England can win a major trophy for the first time since 1966.<\/p>\n
By the time they return to action with two friendlies in March, Tuchel will know who England will face at the World Cup after the draw in Washington on December 5.<\/p>\n
Harry Kane scores his England’s second goal against Albania.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Tuchel made seven changes as he brought Jude Bellingham back into the starting line-up for the first time since June after restricting him to a substitute appearance against Serbia.<\/p>\n
Although England enjoyed over 70 percent of the possession, they found it hard to carve open Albania, on an eight-match unbeaten run that ranked as their best in 15 years.<\/p>\n
Sylvinho\u2019s combative side nearly snatched a shock lead when Elseid Hysaj curled just over from the edge of the area.<\/p>\n
Left out of the October internationals, Bellingham had a point to prove to Tuchel as he fights for starting berth at the World Cup after Aston Villa\u2019s Morgan Rogers impressed in his absence.<\/p>\n
The Real Madrid midfielder\u2019s contribution was patchy until he drove forward to set up Jarrod Bowen for a low strike that Thomas Strakosha pushed around the post.<\/p>\n
England\u2019s clean-sheet run almost came to an end immediately after the interval. Dean Henderson, deputising for Jordan Pickford, flung himself to the left to parry Arber Hoxha\u2019s stinging shot.<\/p>\n
Henderson made an equally good save moments later, blocking Hoxha\u2019s close-range effort after Dan Burn\u2019s miscued pass put England in danger.<\/p>\n
Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane during England\u2019s remarkable win over Albania.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Kane said on Saturday that England want to build an NFL-style playbook to help make the most of set-pieces at the World Cup.<\/p>\n
Fittingly, the England captain, a noted NFL fan, struck from a set-piece in the 74th minute.<\/p>\n
Bukayo Saka\u2019s corner was flicked into the six-yard box and Kane tapped in after Strakosha failed to gather.<\/p>\n
The Bayern Munich striker wasn\u2019t done yet and he netted again in the 82nd minute to make it 78 goals for England in 112 appearances.<\/p>\n
Marcus Rashford\u2019s cross was perfectly weighted for Kane to thump his header past Strakosha from five yards, concluding England\u2019s campaign with a flourish.<\/p>\n
TODAY\u2019S EUROPEAN WORLD CUP QUALIFYING RESULTS<\/p>\n
Group D <\/p>\n
In Baku Azerbaijan 1 (Dadasov 4) France 3 (Mateta 17, Akliouche 30, Magomedaliyev 45-og)<\/p>\n
In Warsaw Ukraine 2 (Zubkov 83, Hutsuliak 90+3) Iceland 0<\/p>\n
Group F <\/p>\n
In Porto Portugal Portugal 9 (Veiga 7, Ramos 28, Neves 30, 41, 81, Fernandes 45+3-pen, 52, 72-pen, Conceicao 90+2) Armenia 1 (Spertsyan 18)<\/p>\n
In Budapest Hungary 2 (Lukacs 4, Varga 37) Ireland 3 (Parrott 15-pen, 80, 90+6)<\/p>\n
Group K <\/p>\n
In Tirana Albania 0 England 2 (Kane 74, 82)<\/p>\n
In Leskovac Serbia 2 (Katai 49, Stankovic 60) Latvia 1 (Gutkovskis 12)<\/p>\n
Playing later<\/p>\n
Group I <\/p>\n
In Milan Italy v Norway (1945)<\/p>\n
In Chisinau Israel v Moldova (1945)<\/p>\n
SUNDAY RESULTS<\/p>\n
Group B <\/p>\n
In Geneva Switzerland 4 (Embolo 13, Xhaka 60-pen, Ndoye 75, Manzambi 90+4) Sweden 1 (Nygren 33)<\/p>\n
In Ljubljana Slovenia 0 Kosovo 2 (Asllani 6, Karnicnik 64-og)<\/p>\n
Group C <\/p>\n
In Athens Greece 3 (Bakasetas 7, Karetsas 57, Tzolis 63) Scotland 2 (Gannon-Doak 65, Christie 70)<\/p>\n
In Copenhagen Denmark 2 (Damsgaard 11, Isaksen 79) Belarus 2 (Gromyko 62, Demchenko 65)<\/p>\n
Group E <\/p>\n
In Bursa Turkey 2 (Calhanoglu 18-pen, Chernev 83-og) Bulgaria 0<\/p>\n
In Tbilisi Georgia 0 Spain 4 (Oyarzabal 11-pen, 63, Zubimendi 22, Torres 35)<\/p>\n
Group H <\/p>\n
In Limassol Cyprus 0 Austria 2 (Arnautovic 18-pen, 55)<\/p>\n
In Zenica Bosnia 3 (Dzeko 49, Bajraktarevic 79, Tabakovic 90+3) Romania 1 (Birligea 17)<\/p>\n
Group J<\/p>\n
In Astana Kazakhstan 1 (Satpayev 9) Belgium 1 (Vanaken 48)<\/p>\n
In Vaduz Liechtenstein 0 Wales 1 (James 61)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Harry Kane put the seal on flawless England\u2019s record-setting finish to their World Cup qualifying campaign with a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[6074,26013,2095,64,63,22706,2065,2791,166476,166485,166478,52598,11301,57919,2057,166470,166474,166471,51331,166484,166488,596,6246,5717,166475,129808,29475,166479,121459,2184,9139,2041,2067,166482,129793,43269,166486,166477,129796,62367,166473,3595,85,146128,42307,166487,166472,166483,166481,2640,161072,5525,2614,3601,67624,2062,166480],"class_list":{"0":"post-288947","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-africa","9":"tag-albania","10":"tag-america","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-bayern-munich","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-central-america","16":"tag-clean-sheet-run","17":"tag-close-range-effort","18":"tag-cup-qualifying-results","19":"tag-disappointing-defeat","20":"tag-eastern-europe","21":"tag-england-coach","22":"tag-europe","23":"tag-european-record","24":"tag-european-results","25":"tag-european-side","26":"tag-european-team","27":"tag-european-world-cup","28":"tag-flawless-campaign","29":"tag-football","30":"tag-football-news","31":"tag-germany","32":"tag-goal-equals","33":"tag-group-d-sa","34":"tag-harry-kane","35":"tag-highest-win-percentage","36":"tag-jude-bellingham","37":"tag-mexico","38":"tag-national-football-league","39":"tag-north-america","40":"tag-northern-america","41":"tag-qualifier-match","42":"tag-qualifying-campaign","43":"tag-real-madrid-c-f","44":"tag-record-setting-finish","45":"tag-save-moments","46":"tag-senegal","47":"tag-serbia","48":"tag-six-yard-box","49":"tag-southern-europe","50":"tag-sports","51":"tag-starting-line-up","52":"tag-state-of-georgia","53":"tag-sterner-tests-lie","54":"tag-stinging-shot","55":"tag-stunning-slice","56":"tag-thomas-strakosha","57":"tag-thomas-tuchel","58":"tag-tirana","59":"tag-ukraine","60":"tag-united-states-of-america","61":"tag-washington","62":"tag-western-africa-sub-saharan-africa","63":"tag-western-europe","64":"tag-zubimendi"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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