PARIS: Thomas Tuchel made a winning start to life as England coach with a 2-0 victory against Albania in 2026 World Cup qualifying on Friday, while Robert Lewandowski handed Poland a narrow win over Lithuania.

Goals in either half from debutant Myles Lewis-Skelly and captain Harry Kane were enough to get England over the line as they began their qualification campaign for the next World Cup, which will take place in the USA, Canada and Mexico.

Since taking over the reins from Gareth Sout­hgate in January, Tuchel promised a more vibrant England side but there were only a few fleeting examples of that in an uninspiring yet efficient win at Wembley.

“We can do better, we have to do better. We started well, we had seven-eight minutes with 100 percent ball possession with a lot of passes and high energy,” said a critical Tuchel. “Second half, I felt we were too slow and in general not enough runs off the ball to get behind the line.”

Only so much can be drawn from his first game but Lewis-Skelly was a clear positive in his goal-scoring debut.

The left-back, aged 18 years and 176 days, became the youngest player to score on his England debut when he slid a composed finish through the legs of goalk­eeper Thomas Strak­osha on 20 minutes, following a sublime through-ball by Jude Bellingham.

“I’m lost for words really. I’m just so grateful to the manager for putting trust in me,” said the Arsenal teenager.

Another debutant Dan Burn hit the bar with a header in the first half.

England lacked penetration after the break and their other moment of inspir­ation in the match came with 13 minutes rema­i­ning as Kane magn­ifice­ntly plucked a deep Declan Rice cross out of the air at the back post and slotted the ball into the far corner.

“I had clear ideas on what we wanted to do, how we wanted to play and tried to stick to them as much as possible,” Belli­ngham said. “We had a really good week of training and a good win to start the new era.”

England top Group ‘K’ on goal difference and play second-placed Latvia, who beat Andorra 1-0, at Wembley on Monday.

Elsewhere on the opening matchday of European qualifying, Poland edged a 1-0 win against Lithuania in Warsaw.

Barcelona striker Lewan­dowski fired home from the edge of the box in the 81st minute to give Michal Probierz’s side a winning start in Group ‘G’.

Finland overcame Malta by the same scoreline thanks to a first-half goal by Oliver Antman, with the hosts finishing a player down after Maltese defender Kurt Shaw was dismissed.

Cyprus top Group ‘H’ thanks to a 2-0 home victory over San Marino, while Bosnia and Herce­govina won 1-0 in Rom­ania.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2025