England launched the Thomas Tuchel era as head coach with a composed 2-0 victory over Albania in the World Cup qualifiers. Tuchel stresses the importance of the team forging its identity and displaying English resilience. The Premier League is known for its relentless, high-intensity football, and similar expectations were placed on the national team. While England didn’t quite meet those demands yet, Albania made life difficult.

Given the gulf in class between the sides, the match unfolded as anticipated. England dominated possession with 74%, but Albania’s stubborn defense made chance creation tricky, limiting England’s expected goals (xG) to 1.6. The goals came from Myles Lewis-Skelly and Harry Kane.

Lewis-Skelly’s international debut was undoubtedly one of England’s standout moments. At only 18 years old, he has plenty of untapped potential.

Conversely, Phil Foden and Marcus Rashford were among the letdowns, struggling to make an impact.

Albania is a competitive side, but Latvia is undoubtedly weak. They were relegated from the Nations League C division after finishing rock-bottom in a group with North Macedonia, Armenia, and the Faroe Islands. Over the last two qualifying campaigns, Latvia has suffered crushing away defeats: 0-5 against Croatia, 0-4 against Turkey, and 1-7 against Germany. That said, they managed to limit the Netherlands to a 0-2 loss.

Latvia’s most recent away game was a 1-0 victory over Andorra, but it was a dreadful contest, with both sides producing an xG below 0.50.

England has a formidable home record in qualifiers, averaging 3.8 goals per game in their last 14 home matches. Given Latvia’s frailties, another goal-fest seems inevitable.

Team news - England:

With fixtures coming thick and fast, some squad rotations could be expected. Arsenal's Lewis-Skelly impressed against Albania and might retain his spot. Kane remains the focal point in the attack. Newcastle’s Anthony Gordon suffered a minor knock in the Albania match and is unlikely to feature.

Tuchel is still assessing his squad and determining his key players. If Rashford and Foden fail to impress again, Jarrod Bowen could be given an opportunity. Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice are set to be the backbone of England’s midfield. Or the lineup could be something different as the win is guaranteed with any lineup England will put up, but as Tuchel is new, he wants to impress the people and get them backing him.

Latvia emerged unscathed from their match against Andorra. They played a more attack-minded game there but will inevitably park the bus against England, possibly tweaking their lineup accordingly. Parking the bus is actually not a correct term here as they have no other option that to try to defend, as they will not have the ball at any point and I would be surprised to see them shooting on target more than once, even that one from a long and desperate distance.

What to look at here?

Obviously we first have to follow England to score the needed goals, but keep an eye what Tuchel is trying to do, how they enter the attacking box. And follow Lewis-Skelly, he is world star in the making!

在世界杯预选赛中，英格兰以2:0战胜阿尔巴尼亚，开启了托马斯·图切尔的主教练时代。图切尔强调了球队塑造自身特色和展现英格兰人韧性的重要性。英超联赛以其残酷、高强度的足球而闻名，人们对国家队也寄予了类似的期望。虽然英格兰还没有完全满足这些要求，但阿尔巴尼亚让生活变得艰难。

考虑到两队之间的等级差距，这场比赛如预期的那样展开了。英格兰队以74%的控球率占据优势，但阿尔巴尼亚队顽强的防守使得创造机会变得困难，将英格兰队的预期进球数限制在1.6个。进球来自迈尔斯·刘易斯-斯凯利和哈里·凯恩。

刘易斯-斯凯利的国家队处子秀无疑是英格兰最精彩的时刻之一。年仅18岁的他有很多未开发的潜力。

相反，菲尔·福登和马库斯·拉什福德则是令人失望的球员，他们在努力发挥作用。

阿尔巴尼亚是一支有竞争力的球队，但拉脱维亚无疑很弱。在与北马其顿、亚美尼亚和法罗群岛同组垫底后，他们从国际联赛C组降级。在过去的两次预选赛中，拉脱维亚都遭遇了客场惨败：0-5克罗地亚，0-4土耳其，1-7德国。尽管如此，他们还是设法将荷兰队限制在0-2的比分之内。

拉脱维亚最近的一场客场比赛是1-0战胜安道尔，但这是一场糟糕的比赛，双方的xG都低于0.50。

英格兰队在预选赛中有着令人敬畏的主场战绩，在过去的14场主场比赛中，他们场均打进3.8球。考虑到拉脱维亚的脆弱，另一场进球盛宴似乎不可避免。

球队新闻-英格兰：

随着赛程越来越密集，一些阵容轮换是可以预期的。阿森纳的刘易斯-斯凯利在对阵阿尔巴尼亚的比赛中表现出色，他可能会保住自己的位置。凯恩仍然是进攻的焦点。纽卡斯尔的安东尼·戈登在与阿尔巴尼亚的比赛中受了点轻伤，不太可能参加比赛。

图切尔还在评估他的阵容，决定他的关键球员。如果拉什福德和福登不能再次给人留下深刻的印象，杰拉德·鲍恩可能会得到一个机会。贝灵汉和赖斯将成为英格兰中场的中坚力量。或者阵容可能会有所不同，因为英格兰队的任何阵容都可以保证获胜，但由于图切尔是新人，他想给人们留下深刻的印象，让他们支持他。

拉脱维亚在与安道尔的比赛中毫发无损。他们在那里踢了一场更具攻击力的比赛，但不可避免地会在对阵英格兰的比赛中停下脚步，可能会相应地调整阵容。停车其实在这里不是一个正确的术语，因为他们没有其他选择，只能尝试防守，因为他们在任何时候都没有球权，我会很惊讶地看到他们不止一次射正，即使是在遥远而绝望的距离。

这里要看什么？

显然，我们首先要跟随英格兰队打进必要的进球，但要注意图切尔在做什么，他们是如何进入进攻禁区的。跟随刘易斯-斯凯利，他是正在成长中的世界明星！