Albania vs England live: Bellingham poised to start final World Cup 2026 qualifier | OneFootball

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Tuchel wants 'balanced' England squad at the World Cup

England play their final World Cup qualifier against Albania as Thomas Tuchel’s side look to complete a perfect campaign with an eighth win in a row.

Tuchel has overseen seven consecutive wins - as well as seven consecutive clean sheets - as England qualified with two games to spare. The focus is now on finalising plans ahead of next summer’s tournament, with Tuchel’s strongest side starting to take shape.

Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze scored the goals as England defeated Serbia 2-0 at Wembley on Thursday night, as the hosts underlined the strength in depth in their squad by bringing on Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden in the second half.

Tuchel must now decide whether Bellingham has done enough to return to his starting line-up ahead of Morgan Rogers, with No 10 seemingly one of the last positions that is up for grabs between now and the World Cup next summer.

How are the Home Nations & Ireland doing?

Ireland’s stunning win over Portugal in Dublin on Thursday revives their hopes of reaching the play-offs, and the Irish will meet Hungary – one point above them – on Sunday in a battle for the play-off place. Portugal are almost certain to clinch top spot, even without the suspended Cristiano Ronaldo, given they play lowly Armenia in their final match.

Scotland were beaten 3-2 in Greece on Saturday night to seemingly throw away their hopes of automatic World Cup qualification, only for Belarusto stun Denmark with a 2-2 draw and keep the group alive.

Steve Clarke’s side will now meet Denmark at Hampden Park on Tuesday night in a huge showdown to decide who books their place at the World Cup and who has to settle for the play-offs. Scotland must win, or else the Danes will take top spot.

Wales are level on points with second-placed North Macedonia in their group , and the Welsh host them on Tuesday night. That game is crucial as it will decide who goes through to the play-offs.

Northern Ireland are out of the running for a top-two finish after Tomas Bobcek's 91st-minute winner for Slovakia in Kosice but Michael O’Neill’s men are into the play-offs thanks to their Nations League performance. Luxembourg are bottom of the group on nil points and have scored just a single goal in qualifying.

Chris Wilson16 November 2025 15:00

Thomas Tuchel has made his point. Now Jude Bellingham must be restored to England’s No 10 role

In the 65th minute the Wembley crowd delivered the loudest noise of the night, louder than either of England’s two goals, louder even than the cheer when a paper aeroplane took off from the upper tier and landed on the pitch during a lull in the second half. Jude Bellingham arrived to a booming roar that told Thomas Tuchel exactly what fans thought about his choice to bench the Real Madrid midfielder. Some paid £80 per ticket, and they hadn’t come to see Morgan Rogers.

Of course, Bellingham couldn’t possibly have started Thursday’s 2-0 win over Serbia, not without Tuchel giving up his leverage. Tuchel stuck by his guns over recent months with a selection policy of retaining the players who were performing for England rather than picking familiar names, and his decision to omit Bellingham from October’s camp was a statement of intent. Throwing Bellingham back into the starting XI at the first opportunity would have undermined his own stance.

Chris Wilson16 November 2025 14:45

With England having already secured a place at next year’s World Cup, here’s a look at who else can secure a spot this week.

World Cup qualifying is hurtling towards a conclusion with some of the final places ahead of the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico up for grabs over the coming days.

So far, 30 teams have booked their places in what has already been a historic campaign for three first-time qualifiers, with Jordan, Uzbekistan and the Cape Verde islands all through to the 48-team finals.

England, France and Croatia are the only European teams to have qualified so far but the other nine group winners will be gradually confirmed in the next few days as the first round of qualifying finally concludes.

Elsewhere, we have largely reached play-off time across the rest of the world; and that’s before the rest of the European play-offs and inter-continental play-offs in March.

Who can qualify for the World Cup this week?

Norway, Jamaica and Scotland are among the countries attempting to qualify for the World Cup over the coming days

Chris Wilson16 November 2025 13:45

Phil Foden and Eberechi Eze boost World Cup hopes with solutions to England’s No 10 problem

Here’s the report from last time out for England...

The man Thomas Tuchel had omitted in October came on, for his international comeback, to make a point and in some style. Not Jude Bellingham. Or not just Bellingham, anyway. In a 2-0 victory that could be attributed to Tuchel, his words leading to the opener, his deeds to the clincher, Phil Foden may have provided Tuchel with an answer to the conundrum of the surfeit of No 10s. Eberechi Eze, too.

They could not all go to the World Cup, Tuchel had suggested. But if Foden had looked potentially vulnerable, the man who could be squeezed out, a player used on the left in Euro 2024 had a new guise: as Harry Kane’s understudy. Foden was used in attack, winning his first cap since March. Eze was introduced on the left wing, scored and thrust himself into a different debate. In a quadruple change, Bellingham was brought on in his preferred position and looked an upgrade on the starter Morgan Rogers. But that may not have been the revelation of the night. Foden, arguably, was. “Phil can make any team better in an offensive position,” said Tuchel.

Chris Wilson16 November 2025 13:30