Thomas Tuchel: 'We have to be at our top level'

Written by:

Holly Hunt

The incoming England head coach reflects on the European qualifying draw for the FIFA World Cup 2026

Incoming England head coach Thomas Tuchel insisted his team will need to be at their best when the Three Lions begin their European qualifying campaign to reach the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

This morning, Tuchel was in attendance in Zurich to see England drawn into Group K alongside Serbia, Albania, Latvia and Andorra in the UEFA preliminary qualifying.

The Three Lions have played Serbia as recently as the summer when Jude Bellingham’s 13th minute winner got England off to a winning start in their Group C opening in UEFA EURO 2024.

Meanwhile, England came up against Albania en route to the FIFA World Cup 2022, hosted by Qatar. A Harry Kane hat-trick saw the Three Lions – who have triumphed in all six of their previous encounters with the Red and Blacks – edge closer to the tournament as they ran out 5-0 winners at Wembley.

13 Nov 2021 6:55

England put in a five-star performance against Albania

A Harry Kane hat-trick saw the Three Lions edge closer to the World Cup 2022

“It’s a difficult group,” said Tuchel. “Serbia and Albania have some good individual players, top coaches and some very famous ex-players, so it will be very tough.

“Both of them are always up for a surprise because they have the quality and the emotional backing from the supporters and normally, they have emotional groups as teams. We’ll have to be very respectful of that.”

However, the European qualifiers for the next edition of the World Cup will mark a first-ever meeting between England and Latvia as the two teams bid for a place in the tournament, which is set to be hosted across 16 cities in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

“Latvia is a new challenge for us” explained Tuchel. “England have never faced Latvia, so let’s see if we can get to know them better and understand better what we are facing.”

SEE THE QUALIFYING DRAW IN FULL

Nevertheless, the England boss asserted that his team will need to be performing at their best – regardless of the opposition – in order to ensure they are one of the 48 teams competing in the tournament, which kicks off on 11 June 2026.

“We will be favourites against Andorra but qualification is never easy because the gap closes in between the smaller nations and the bigger nations,” added Tuchel.

“We have to be at our top level to make it to the World Cup – it’s the most important task at the moment to not get distracted. We also don’t want to get distracted by the role of favourites.”