England comfortably dispatch Albania in World Cup Qualifying win | OneFootball

The Thomas Tuchel era has begun in earnest for England and in comfortable fashion after the Three Lions dispatched Albania in a 2-0 win at Wembley.

Scorers: Lewis-Skelly 20', Kane 78'

Coming into their qualifying campaign as massive favourites in Group K, England were expected to see off the visitors with little trouble in front of home support in the capital, and got off to a dream start that only the most fanciful script writers could conjure up.

After being brought into the senior international camp on the back of rapid progression at Arsenal, youngster Myles Lewis-Skelly bagged the match-opener in the 20th minute.

The 18-year-old dispatched a classy finish between Thomas Strakosha's legs after being put through on goal by a sublime through ball supplied by Jude Bellingham, becoming the youngest-ever debutant to score in England's history.

England had a glorious chance to double their advantage in the 39th minute through Bellingham, whose diving header was well-saved by a sprawling Strakosha, with Harry Kane's effort off the rebound being heroically blocked by Kuqezinjtë captain Berat Djimsiti.

Strakoksha came up big a minute later when Dan Burn so nearly also scored on his debut after winning a towering header at the back post off a corner, only for the AEK Athens shot-stopper to tip it over the bar with a strong hand.

Albania were somewhat lucky to go into the halftime interval down by just a single goal, but England looked bright in the opening 45 minutes and fully in control before the break.

Apart from sparse moments of resistance before the hour mark, Silvinho's side were unable to truly cause a moment of pause, with England comfortable throughout while remaining confident in possession.

Tuchel would eventually make three substitutions in the 74th minute when he introduced Anthony Gordon, Morgan Rodgers, and Jarrod Bowen, replacing Marcus Rashford, Curtis Jones, and Phil Foden, who once again struggled to truly stand out in an England shirt.

By then, Albania had managed to scrounge together a handful of decent counter-attack opportunities as the clock edged toward the 90-minute mark, however, most notably through the influence of Armando Broja since his introduction off the bench.

A last-ditch tackle from Ezra Konsa potentially spared Tuchel's outfit a few blushes when the Aston Villa man snuffed out Broja's chance to go one-on-one with Jordan Pickford, with a few alarm bells beginning to fire in the latter stages.

But just like that, a moment of brilliance from Kane would supply the two-nil need that England deserved on balance when he settled Declan Rice's chipped ball into the area before composing himself and slotting a bending effort into the far corner to hit the 70-goal mark.

Strakosha was forced off in the final ten minutes of action after receiving treatment on the pitch, with the former Lazio stalwart being replaced by Elhan Kastrati just moments before Jordan Henderson came on for Rice, making his first appearance for England in a year.

Lewis-Skelly was given a warm ovation after being replaced by Reece James just before the start of five minutes of additional time, with England seeing out a decent result to kick-start their qualifying campaign ahead of Latvia on Monday.

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