Thomas Tuchel has enjoyed a perfect start to life as England boss with back-to-back Wembley wins against Albania and Latvia in World Cup qualifying games over the international break
Three Lions boss Thomas Tuchel will not play again at Wembley for six months. England’s next two home fixtures will be played away from the national stadium with Villa Park set to be confirmed as hosting the World Cup qualifier with Andorra on September 6.
That is because that date falls in the middle of ten Coldplay concerts being hosted at Wembley and so as soon as the draw was made it became clear they would have to find an alternative venue. England are also playing their next home friendly – against Senegal on June 10 – at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground. Their next game at Wembley is the friendly with Wales on October 9.
Villa Park was due to host a friendly with Romania in June 2020 but that was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, England’s next World Cup qualifier with Andorra on June 7 could be moved to Barcelona.
England have enjoyed a perfect start to their qualifying campaign under Tuchel. The German kicked off his spell with a 2-0 win against Albania ahead of Monday evening’s comprehensive 3-0 success against Latvia.
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But despite the results being positive, Tuchel has underlined his lofty demands by asking for more from his stars in the next international break. Speaking after the win against Latvia, the German said: “It was not an easy match. We saw a lot of good things, created good chances.
“We needed a free-kick to unlock it. I’m happy with the attitude, energy and desire. We will get there. I know Reecey [James] and the quality the boy has is amazing. He has every right to be proud and happy with his performance. He is in excellent shape. He looks sharp, in shape and the quality there can be no doubt.
“The second half we started to slow the game down and made little movement, which makes no sense. But the second goal was better as we showed acceleration from one of our sixes. We encourage everyone to have these late accelerations but we struggled a bit until the goal.”
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Despite Tuchel’s comments, England captain Harry Kane has been full of praise for his new boss. The Bayern Munich striker scored against both Albania and Latvia to take his international record to 71 goals.
“I think there were more patterns of play, more chances than Friday,” said Kane, “But again it was tough, playing against 11 behind the ball.
“Overall we can be pleased with two wins and two clean sheets. We had to be patient. Thomas Tuchel is fantastic, he has settled in straight away. He is a pleasure to work for, he has brought the passion.”
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