England Triumphant: Three Lions Roar to World Cup Qualification After Perfect Break | OneFootball

England had yet another successful international break, picking up victories over neighbours Wales in an international friendly as well as securing their World Cup spot by thrashing Latvia away from home.

Thomas Tuchel’s Three Lions roared louder than ever before since he took over, showcasing intensity and domination as well as defensive solidity. But how did England truly get on?

England 3-0 Wales

Domination, domination, domination. It was really that simple from start to finish from England’s perspective in a game they probably were expecting a far greater challenge, especially considering since Craig Bellamy had no intentions of setting up his Wales team to defend deep. And even with the challenge bring not so great for England, Bellamy’s tactics in the first half made it easy for England.

England easily found pockets of space to thread passes into, the lines were consistently broken time and time again, the general movements and passing was sharp and crisp, the variety in overloading the central areas as well as utilising width to help stretch the game was quite simply outstanding.

The goals, two of those were quite simply shocking defending from Wales. But the third one from Bukayo Saka was quite simply incredible and those opening 20 minutes showcased exactly how good England are and can be under Thomas Tuchel.

The intensity remained throughout the first half, the physical domination was eye catching, the gap in quality and the far superior strength England had over their rivals was quite simply extraordinary. In reality, England should’ve had far more goals just in that first half than the three they got.

The 2nd half, because the game felt already won and done, there was less intensity than the first half but the control of every single situation and moment was still there. The England players just looked relaxed, free, in control and just enjoying a game of football like they were young children having s kick about in the park without a care in the world.

Wales did at least show a bit more physical bite and created some chances in the 2nd half, but reality was England were just in total control of these situations and moments and never really looked in danger of conceding a goal.

There was a bit of intrigue after the game when Thomas Tuchel wasn’t particularly happy with the atmosphere from the home crowd, saying that his team deserved more energy back from the crowd considering the energy and intensity his players put into the game.

After those first 20 minutes, it definitely did seem dull and also it lacked that buzz and excitement. Normally when your team is cruising and they are playing very well, there’d be an increase in noise levels and that urge for more goals. But at Wembley it just didn’t feel that way at all.

Despite this though, what truly mattered was the performance matching the outcome and Thomas Tuchel got a good performance from his team to match a very good result.

Latvia 0-5 England

Now onto the World Cup qualifier. Albania beat Serbia a few days prior to this game so it meant that all England needed was a victory to secure their place for next year’s World Cup in North America and they did so in style.

RIGA, LATVIA – OCTOBER 14: Harry Kane of England applauds the fans after the team’s victory in the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier match between Latvia and England at Daugava Stadium on October 14, 2025 in Riga, Latvia. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

They once again, albeit expectedly against a lower ranked team, came out of the blocks with an intense meaning. Be physical, be intense with and without the ball, always look to play forward to create chances and eventually find the back of the net to score goals.

It took them a little longer in this game than the game vs Wales to break the deadlock, but eventually they breached Latvia’s stubborn low block thanks to a fantastic finish from Anthony Gordon. John Stones had a lot of time on the ball to play it in behind, Latvia put no pressure on the ball, and then Gordon did the rest by collecting it from the wide area and cutting inside to shoot.

The second goal, Latvia took a big risk in trying to play through the thirds and unsurprisingly they got caught in their own defensive third in the process. Very good pressure from England high up the pitch which forces that turnover. The ball then finds its way to Harry Kane and even with just half a yard of space, he’s so lethal. Lovely finish from his left foot outside the box and that made it 2-0 with England in that commanding position where it became a matter of how many they could score.

With England having a lot of control of the game during that first half, the travelling fans also had a bit of banter with Thomas Tuchel, basically joking whether they were loud enough after the German criticised the atmosphere at Wembley a few nights prior at Wembley.

To make things even better for themselves, England then won a penalty just before half time and it was typical Harry Kane from the spot. Calm and clinical. That made it 3-0 and the game was all but certainly over at that point.

Similar in some ways to the Wales game, England probably just dropped their intensity a little bit and that comes down to really how comfortable they were. Latvia had a couple of good moments to try and score but Pickford as well as the England defenders were able to deal with any possible danger.

Tuchel made changes to try freshen things up and also give other players some minutes to see how they do. That includes Eberechi Eze and Jarrod Bowen, both making a goal contribution by combining together. But before that, 58 minutes in, Latvia conceded a fourth and that was an own goal from Maksims Tonisevs.

Then late on, with the game well and truly wrapped up, Jarrod Bowen set up Eberechi Eze to make it 5 for England and it was a lovely finish as well. A fantastic way to round off another very successful international break where more progression was made and a greater idea of what Tuchel really wants from his team was seen.

Conclusion

It was once again a comfortable, dominant and hugely successful international break for England. Defeating their neighbors in a convincing way is always fantastic and also thrashing Latvia to secure World Cup qualification with a couple of qualifying games to spare is also relaxing.

There is also more of an identity with Tuchel’s England side than we saw before in the summer and March international breaks earlier in the year. The idea is in progress and that progress is being shown in each international break.

Tuchel will now have a good idea of the core of his England squad, there is still some positions up for grabs whether it be as a squad player or starter. But generally under the German, England are heading in the right direction towards future success.