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Half-time: Albania 0-0 England<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a good test for England<\/a> in the first 45 minutes in Tirana. The big experiment has been John Stones in midfield and that\u2019s not gone brilliantly. Packing the middle of the pitch and pushing Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham forward is the intention but this is the first time Tuchel has tried it and it shows a bit. Arber Hoxha looks a real threat down Albania\u2019s left and Jarell Quansah is having to keep a close eye on him on his debut.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.48 EST<\/p>\n 45+1 min: Eze carries the ball a long way upfield but can\u2019t find a pass. England<\/a> win it back and ping it around midfield for the remainder of the one minute added on.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 45 min: Bowen and Kane combine on the edge of the area but Rice is flagged offside again when the ball goes into the area. Tuchel is not best pleased. The promise of the first few minutes has faded and it often looks a bit disjointed in the final third for England<\/a> now.<\/p>\n Jarrod Bowen runs with the ball past Naser Aliji and Kristjan Asllani. Photograph: Alex Pantling\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.49 EST<\/p>\n 43 min: Kane heads away another Asllani corner. The ball goes back into the box and Quansah is there this time. Bellingham then bears down on the Albania<\/a> area and lays it off to Rice, who had already made his run and is offside.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 41 min: The very lively Hoxha picks the ball up and runs at Stones and Quansah again. It takes both of them to stop him but England<\/a> still concede a corner. Stones heads away.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 39 min: Wharton is booked after sliding in on Asllani in midfield. He gets the ball but a good chunk of Asllani\u2019s right ankle too.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 37 min: Great save by Strakosha! Bellingham feeds it to Bowen on the right, inside the area, and his right-footed shot is low and the Albania<\/a> keeper gets a glove to it. Wharton\u2019s corner is met by Quansah but his header is tame and gathered by Strakosha.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 35 min: Rice\u2019s free-kick is aimed at Burn but he can\u2019t divert it goalwards and Albania<\/a> clear. Bajrami gives up on Balliu\u2019s over-hit ball down the right.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 34 min: That corner comes to nothing but Albania sustain their attack for a minute longer until Bajrami glides past O\u2019Reilly and Rice nips in to win it back for England<\/a>. Kane wins a free-kick in the Albania half after Hoxka pulls him back. Rice will deliver again \u2026<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 32 min: Jittery moments for England<\/a> as Hoxha darts inside and runs at Quansah. Stones comes across and skews his clearance out for a corner. The Dinamo Zagreb winger is proving Albania\u2019s biggest attacking threat.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 30 min: A promising Albania<\/a> move forward is stopped in its tracks when the linesman flags for offside for Uzuni when he looked on.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 28 min: Bellingham spins Ramadani about 40 yards from goal and England<\/a> have a free-kick in a central position. Rice clips it into the box and Strakosha picks up the loose ball.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 27 min: Balliu\u2019s first contribution is to ping a ball down the right for Bajrami to chase but O\u2019Reilly sticks to his task and the danger is snuffed out.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 25 min: Hysaj is down and has taken off his shinpads. His game is done. He\u2019s been struggling for a few minutes with some sort of issue. On comes Ivan Balliu in his place.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 23 min: This time Bowen tries to run inside his full-back but Bellingham isn\u2019t expecting it and passes the ball behind him and out of play. Whoops. Eze and Rice aren\u2019t quite clicking on the other wing either.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 21 min: Eze comes infield off the left flank before Bellingham and Bowen combine. The latter\u2019s low cross fails to find an England<\/a> shirt. He\u2019s being encouraged to put balls into the box but his right being his weaker foot, they often don\u2019t have the quality.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 19 min: Hysaj tries his luck from distance and it flies just over the bar! Henderson was worried enough to fling himself across goal. The effort came after Bellingham had timed a sliding challenge to perfection to deny Hoxha his own shooting opportunity on the edge of the box.<\/p>\n Literally one for the cameras. Photograph: Armando Babani\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.38 EST<\/p>\n 17 min: The game settles back into attack v defence. England\u2019s play has slowed a bit but O\u2019Reilly brings some energy down the left. Kane lofts a ball into the box and it eventually falls to Rice who can\u2019t get over his half-volley and it drifts over the bar.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 15 min: Ramadani is the first in the book for crunching into Kane high up the field. Bit of a sore one on the back of the striker\u2019s heels.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 13 min: Wharton\u2019s corner is aimed at Quansah but Stones is penalised for wrestling Laci to the floor elsewhere in the box.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 12 min: Bowen has seen a fair bit of the ball, mostly out on the right touchline. Eze, not as natural a winger, is yet to get into the game out on the left. There\u2019s been plenty of movement and the Albania midfield are a bit unsure of themselves. Rice forces a corner for England<\/a>.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 10 min: Bellingham on the right and Rice on the left are free to wander into attacking positions with Stones and Wharton holding. Albania<\/a> are just about keeping it tight.<\/p>\n Jude Bellingham runs at the Albanian defence. Photograph: Peter Cziborra\/Action Images\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.18 EST<\/p>\n 8 min: It\u2019s very fluid from England<\/a>. Half the players are involved in a move upfield. O\u2019Reilly finds Kane on the edge of the box and his first-time ball is too close to Strakosha with Rice running in behind. Slick.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 6 min: Hoxha wins a corner for Albania<\/a>. Asllani takes and Bowen is there at the near post to head clear. That got the crowd up.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 4 min: Rice tests Strakosha. Bowen\u2019s cross is headed up in the air and the Arsenal man controls the ball on his chest and hits it as it drops but the Albania<\/a> goalkeeper gets down easily to gather.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 3 min: Interesting shape from England<\/a>. It\u2019s a back three of Quansah, Burn and O\u2019Reilly in possession with Stones moving into midfield alongside Wharton.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.04 EST<\/p>\n 1 min: Bowen\u2019s cross is hooked up and out for a corner by Hysaj. Wharton takes short, Rice finds Bellingham and his cross (or shot?) drifts out of play. Quick start from England<\/a>.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Kick-off<\/p>\n Declan Rice sends it back to Dean Henderson to pump upfield and we\u2019re under way.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n A duet of well-dressed blokes with microphones lead us (well, not me) in renditions of both anthems. Classy.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Berat Djimsiti and Harry Kane head out with their pennants. Kick-off in England\u2019s final game of 2025 is moments away.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Played 7, won 7, conceded 0. Easy as you like for England<\/a> so far in qualifying. Beyond this group, they\u2019ve now kept nine consecutive clean sheets in competitive matches \u2013 only two teams have done that in Europe before.<\/p>\n Spain are the only other team in European qualifying yet to concede a goal. For what it\u2019s worth, Liechtenstein are the only team yet to score.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Sylvinho has done a pretty fine job at Albania since taking over as manager in 2023. They qualified for Euro 2024 as group winners and gave Spain, Italy and Croatia a good run for their money at the finals despite exiting in the group.<\/p>\n Now they are two games away from a first World Cup having confirmed their place in March\u2019s Uefa playoffs by finishing second behind England<\/a> in this group.<\/p>\n A lot of their squad play in Italy but names familiar to British viewers include Nedim Bajrami of Rangers and the former Brentford goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha. Burnley\u2019s Armando Broja, who turned down an England Under-21 call-up in 2019, is on the bench.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Thomas Tuchel is hoping nobody does a Wayne Rooney today (or indeed a Cristiano Ronaldo<\/a>) and gets themselves sent off and a suspension for the tournament next summer.<\/p>\n No red cards please. We are through and we are in a position with last man then the player holds the shirt he gets the red card. If there\u2019s a doubt then it would be smarter not to do it.<\/p>\n If he goes in the last man example and if we can avoid it no red card of course. But I don\u2019t want to make it too big a subject because then you have a cloud above you. But if you have the choice don\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n Wayne Rooney gets himself a ban for the first two games of Euro 2012 in a qualifier against Montenegro. Photograph: Owen Humphreys\/PAShare<\/a><\/p>\n Harry Kane could make a bit of history today. He\u2019s on 76 goals for England<\/a> and will draw level with Pel\u00e9\u2019s total for Brazil if he scores today. Here\u2019s a look at how the Bayern Munich striker compares to some of the (selected) greats at international level:<\/p>\n Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) 143 goals<\/p>\n Lionel Messi (Argentina) 115<\/p>\n Pel\u00e9 (Brazil) 77<\/p>\n Harry Kane (England) 76<\/p>\n Gerd M\u00fcller (West Germany) 68<\/p>\n Ronaldo (Brazil) 62<\/p>\n Diego Maradona (Argentina) 34<\/p>\n So, what about the Ballon d\u2019Or, Harry? David Hytner heard his answer to that question this week:<\/p>\n I could score 100 goals this season, but if I don\u2019t win the Champions League or the World Cup, you\u2019re probably not going to win the Ballon d\u2019Or. It\u2019s the same with Haaland, it\u2019s the same with any player. You have to be winning those major trophies.<\/p>\n We\u2019re in great shape at Bayern Munich so that maybe makes the odds a little bit more in my favour. Same with England. Hopefully, if things go my way for club and country then I\u2019m definitely going to be in the conversation for a trophy like the Ballon d\u2019Or.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n In other World Cup qualifying news, Portugal have joined England<\/a> and friends at next summer\u2019s finals after a 9-1 thumping of poor Armenia \u2013 without the suspended Cristiano Ronaldo. Hint hint. Bruno Fernandes and Jo\u00e3o Neves got hat-tricks.<\/p>\n And the Republic of Ireland have snuck into the playoffs at the last! Troy Parrott completed his hat-trick with a 96th-minute winner to deny Hungary in Budapest this afternoon.<\/p>\n Troy Parrott is the hero for Ireland as they beat Hungary in an amazing game in Budapest. Photograph: Attila Kisbenedek\/AFP\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a011.47 EST<\/p>\n Team news<\/p>\n Jude Bellingham is among seven changes to the England<\/a> team that beat Serbia on Thursday. Adam Wharton makes his first senior start in midfield alongside Bellingham and Declan Rice.<\/p>\n Dean Henderson replaces Jordan Pickford in goal, while Jarell Quansah makes his debut at right-back, with Dan Burn partnering John Stones in the centre of defence.<\/p>\n Eberechi Eze and Jarrod Bowen play either side of Harry Kane in attack. Alex Scott could earn his first cap off the bench.<\/p>\n Confirmed lineups<\/p>\n Albania (4-3-3): Strakosha; Hysaj, Ismajli, Djimsiti, Aliji; Laci, Asllani, Ramadani; Bajrami, Uzuni, Hoxha. England (4-3-3): Henderson; Quansah, Stones, Burn, O\u2019Reilly; Rice, Wharton, Bellingham; Bowen, Kane, Eze. Share<\/a>Preamble<\/p>\n Well, you could call this a dead rubber. England<\/a> sealed their place at next summer\u2019s World Cup a whole month ago. Albania themselves secured a spot in March\u2019s playoffs with a win against Andorra on Thursday.<\/p>\n But with the World Cup just seven months and a few games away, there is no such thing as a dead rubber for the England players looking to convince Thomas Tuchel that they deserve a seat on his plane to North America. Not even the likes of Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden can be sure of a place in the squad until it is named in May.<\/p>\n England have won on all three of their previous trips to Tirana, the latest being a 2-0 victory under Gareth Southgate on the way to qualifying for the 2022 World Cup. It was lockdown. Mason Mount scored. Kalvin Phillips was in midfield. Jesse Lingard came off the bench. Those were different times.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a 5pm (GMT) kick-off today at the Air Albania Stadium. I\u2019d like to hear your thoughts on how England have done in 2025 under Tuchel, how you expect them to fare at the World Cup and who you think should \u2013 or should not \u2013 be on that plane. Views from Albania are also appreciated. Get in touch via email<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Subs: Dajsinani, Simoni, Balliu, Cake, Ajeti, Manaj, Asani, Tuci, Pajaziti, Berisha, Daku, Broja.<\/p>\n
Subs: Pickford, Trafford, James, Chalobah, Spence, Henderson, Anderson, Scott, Rogers, Saka, Foden, Rashford.<\/p>\n