Foot & Soccer Soccer Match Reports, Football News 
Myles Lewis-Skelly wanted 20 minutes of his England debut to hit the primary purpose of supervisor Thomas Tuchel’s reign and open the scoring in opposition to Albania at Wembley Stadium.
Actual Madrid attacker Jude Bellingham’s threaded move despatched 18-year-old Arsenal full-back Lewis-Skelly by contained in the field, reducing out three visiting defenders and permitting the recipient to carry off Jasir Asani and coolly slot in.
“That’s the way you beat a low block – you play a superb ball,” former Three Lions defender Lee Dixon advised ITV Soccer.
“Simply take a look at [Lewis-Skelly] – he’s able to go. He leans into Asani – ‘get out of my approach’. A unbelievable run and a superb ball. It’s an enormous evening for him, however the composure and the end – he’s obtained an enormous future.”
Myles Lewis-Skelly objectives, stats
Arsenal academy product Lewis-Skelly solely made his debut for his membership on September 22, approaching in its place of their 2-2 draw at Manchester Metropolis.
He was enjoying for England Underneath-19s in November however has firmly established himself in Arsenal’s first crew, scoring his first purpose for them in a 5-1 residence win over Metropolis on February 2.
Lewis-Skelly has additionally confronted a steep studying curve, together with two purple playing cards in 4 Premier League video games in January and February.
The primary of these, throughout the first half of a 1-0 win over Wolves, was later rescinded on attraction, and Lewis-Skelly was substituted earlier than the break in Arsenal’s 7-1 win at PSV on March 4 as a result of he had been booked and gone near a purple card.
Supervisor Mikel Arteta voiced his religion afterwards within the prodigy, who performed all through Arsenal’s 2-2 residence draw within the second leg of the spherical of 16 tie.
England v Albania: Lewis-Skelly debut
After taking on on January 1, Champions League winner Tuchel revealed a number of surprises when he chosen his first squad in mid-March.
Lewis-Skelly and Newcastle defender Dan Burn made their bows in opposition to Albania, whereas ahead Marcus Rashford, who’s on mortgage at Aston Villa from Manchester United, made his first worldwide begin since November 2023 after a primary call-up in nearly a yr.
Tuchel’s mission to win the 2026 Fifa World Cup started with the go to of the facet ranked sixty fifth in Fifa’s rankings within the first of eight qualifiers inside eight months in 2025.
The Three Lions are aiming to qualify for a seventh consecutive version of the match, which can be held in Canada, Mexico and the USA.
Ranked fourth within the Fifa rankings earlier than their qualifying marketing campaign started, England’s greatest run since they failed to achieve the finals in 1994 has been a fourth-placed end in 2018.
England World Cup qualifiers
In addition to Albania, England’s Group Okay rivals comprise Latvia, Andorra and Serbia. Of these opponents, Serbia’s standing of 32 firstly of qualifying made them by far the highest-ranked crew Tuchel’s facet will face.
Serbia proved difficult opponents at Euro 2024, with solely a Jude Bellingham purpose separating the groups of their opener in Germany.
Together with video games as Yugoslavia and Serbia & Montenegro, Dragan Stojkovic’s nation have misplaced their final 5 conferences with England, though they held a formidable report of 1 defeat of their final 21 World Cup qualifying matches earlier than the group started, profitable 14 and drawing six.
⏪ Again in November 2021…
🏴5️⃣-0️⃣🇦🇱 pic.twitter.com/JfIJQD39r0
— England (@England) March 21, 2025
Albania misplaced 5-0 at Wembley after they final met England in November 2021, together with a first-half Harry Kane hat-trick.
Albania are one in every of 5 nations England have confronted greater than six instances and received in opposition to each time, alongside Luxembourg (9), San Marino (8), Malta (7) and Andorra (6).
Latvia are ranked a hundred and fortieth and have by no means performed England earlier than, whereas Andorra are 171st and have misplaced all six of the encounters between the international locations by an combination rating of 25-0.
Ben Chilwell, Bukayo Saka, Tammy Abraham, James Ward-Prowse and Jack Grealish scored when England received 5-0 in Andorra in October 21.
Togetherness and making a bond 🤝 pic.twitter.com/hkQRundhgg
— England (@England) March 21, 2025
England soccer crew World Cup qualifying fixtures
All fixtures begin at 19:45 GMT except in any other case said.
Monday, March 24: England v Latvia
Saturday, June 7: Andorra v England (17:00)
Saturday, September 6: England v Andorra (17:00)
Tuesday, September 9: Serbia v England
Tuesday, October 14: Latvia v England
Thursday, November 13: England v Serbia
Sunday, November 16: Albania v England (17:00)
Sound on for this one. 🤩🔊 pic.twitter.com/ozcnaDn58Q
— England (@England) March 19, 2025
England video games: What occurs if Three Lions prime group?
The highest crew from every of the 12 European Qualifier teams proceeds robotically to the finals, which can be expanded to 48 groups.
Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Portugal, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, France and Croatia are among the many different favourites to win their teams.
What occurs if England end second in World Cup qualifiers?
England can be eradicated in the event that they end third or under and enter the play-offs between March 26-31 2026 if they arrive second.
The 12 runners-up in every group will be a part of 4 Nations League groups within the play-offs, which can be drawn from pots primarily based on groups’ data throughout the marketing campaign. The video games will comprise single-leg semi-finals and finals.
The draw for the World Cup finals will happen in December 2025. The match runs from June 11 till July 19 2026.
