England's tedious victory: Kane secures World Cup qualifier against Andorra!

England's tedious victory: Kane secures World Cup qualifier against Andorra!

England in the third matchday of the World Cup qualification of the group K with a narrow 1-0 win against Andorra against Andorra. The game took place in Barcelona because Andorra has no suitable stadium. The coach of the English national team, Thomas Tuchel, celebrated his third victory in the third game and leads England to the top of the group K with a total of nine points.

The English team dominated the game from the start and had a significantly more control over the game with 90 percent possession. Despite this superiority, the players were initially unable to play out any clear opportunities. In the first half, both Noni Madueke (14th) and Harry Kane (19th) failed due to the conclusions and thus ensured a weak whistle concert among the English fans.

Harry Kane crucial for victory

The turn came in the second half: In the 50th minute, Kane scored the only goal of the game after using a cross from Madueke. Previously, Kane had not used a good opportunity and had failed with a shot on goalkeeper Iker Alvarez. The fans demanded more performance during the game and also reacted after the final whistle with boo calls, despite the victory.

Andorra, which is in 17th place in the FIFA world rankings, acted defensively and tried to minimize the gap. In the 75th minute, Guillaume Silvain Lopez had the opportunity to compensate, but the chance was taken. Andorra has so far been without its own goal in this qualification after it had already lost to Latvia (0: 1) and Albania (0: 3).

look at the qualification for the 2026 World Cup

The qualification for the 2026 World Cup has been running since 2023 and will continue until 2026. A total of 210 FIFA members are nominated for the tournament, except Russia that was excluded. In the UEFA qualification, 54 participants fight for 16 starting places. The group phases were drawn on December 13, 2024 and comprise twelve groups with four or five teams each.

England has previously won against Albania (2-0) and Latvia (3: 0) and has not yet received a goal. After the game against Andorra, the next competitive game will take place on September 6, 2025, with England hitting Andorra in the second leg, followed by a game against Serbia.

This victory underpins England's ambitions in the World Cup qualification and opens up the opportunity for another exciting development in the group K, in which Albania and Serbia compete against each other in the parallel duel.