England has already secured its place as the first European team to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, but its dominance in qualifying extends beyond that. Under Thomas Tuchel, the Three Lions have won all seven of their matches, scoring 20 goals without conceding a single one. Harry Kane’s side now faces Albania tonight (Sunday), aiming to maintain their extraordinary form.
If England manages to keep another clean sheet while winning their final group match, they would make history. No European team has ever qualified for the World Cup with a 100% win rate across at least six games while maintaining a perfect defensive record. Although four other European teams have qualified with a 100% win rate before, all of them had conceded goals.
Currently, England leads Group K with 21 points, while Albania sits second with 14 points from seven matches, with four wins, two draws, and one loss. Before tonight’s encounter, Albania coach Silvino jokingly criticized England’s form, calling it “disgusting.”
Albania Ready to Test England’s Limits
Silvino expressed both respect and challenge ahead of the match:
“𝑼𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚, 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒙 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒔 𝒂𝒈𝒐. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒔—𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐 𝒈𝒐𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒅—𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈! 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒐 𝑰 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒊𝒕? 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚; 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒋𝒐𝒃 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍.”
The former Manchester City left-back continued, “My players have confidence, they love to do their job on the field. We will try to score; hopefully, it will be a good match. Anything can happen in 90 minutes. It is going to be a great and difficult match. Their coach is great. I like the way he organizes the game. Also, he has some of the best footballers in the world in his team.”
Meanwhile, Tuchel remains focused on discipline rather than records. He emphasized the importance of keeping the team composed:
“𝑷𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆, 𝒏𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒔 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒅. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎. 𝑨𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒕 𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒌, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆. 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒓 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔. 𝑾𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒋𝒐𝒃 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏. 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔.”
England and Albania will clash at 11 pm Bangladesh time, with both sides looking to finish the qualifiers on a high note.
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