Two for two under Thomas Tuchel, England resume World Cup 2026 Qualifying duties on Saturday evening, squaring up to minnows Andorra at the RCDE Stadium in Barcelona.

The Three Lions have already assumed top spot in Group K, while their ‘hosts’ sit bottom of the pile with no points to show from their opening two fixtures.

Match preview

A pair of victories, five goals scored and zero conceded, Tuchel’s maiden international window as England boss could hardly have gone smoother, although some may have already been calling for the German to go had the Three Lions not taken six points from a possible six in March.

Albania and Latvia both rocked up to Wembley bidding to ruin Tuchel’s inauguration, but after Myles Lewis-Skelly and Harry Kane took down the former nation, the Bayern Munich talisman was on target again alongside Jarrod Bowen and Eberechi Eze in a 3-0 beating of the Latvians.

Tuchel’s new-look England maybe could have produced more emphatic victories in the eyes of a few, but the only statistic that truly matters for the former Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain boss is that his side are sitting pretty at the top of Group K, where only first place guarantees a 2026 World Cup ticket.

With Tuchel carrying on Lee Carsley’s work from the end of the 2024-25 UEFA Nations League, the Euro 2024 runners-up now boast five wins on the spin in all competitions, scoring at least two goals in every triumph and keeping a clean sheet in each of their last three.

Saturday’s visitors have also put together a 12-game scoring streak since being stunted by Slovenia in their final group game of Euro 2024, and failure to prolong that sequence this weekend would be nothing short of disastrous for Champions League winner Tuchel.

Facing nothing short of a Herculean task on June 7, perpetual whipping boys Andorra are in a familiar position at the bottom of Group K, and even the most ardent Tricolours fan ought not to be optimistic of a first-ever major tournament appearance.

The world’s 173rd-ranked nation could not repeat England’s feats against Latvia and Albania in their first matches of 2025, going down 1-0 to the former prior to a 3-0 thumping at the hands of the Albanians, as Rey Manaj’s double and a late Myrto Uzuni header made the difference.

On account of their inferior goal difference, Andorra find themselves below a Serbia side who have not even played a single qualification match this year – the two outfits actually face each other on June 10 - and the results charts make for extremely grim reading for Koldo Alvarez’s men.

Indeed, Andorra have only prevailed in one of their last 25 competitive fixtures, and that came against the infamously poor San Marino in an October friendly, since when they have failed to find the back of the net in any of their four succeeding fixtures.

It will therefore come as no surprise to learn that Andorra have been comprehensively beaten in each of their previous six competitive matches against England, who have netted multiple strikes in each of those successes and are yet to concede a single goal to the unfancied underdogs.

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England World Cup Qualifying - Europe form:

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Team News

Eight England players who were part of Tuchel’s first selection have either been overlooked or left out of his second batch – a list that notably includes Phil Foden, Marcus Rashford and Europa League winner Dominic Solanke – the latter of whom has been replaced by Al-Ahli’s Ivan Toney.

Chelsea centre-back Trevoh Chalobah will be anticipating a first senior cap for the England team, although Tuchel may opt to go strong on Saturday where there are points on the line, before ringing a few changes for an inconsequential friendly against Senegal.

As a result, a 106th Three Lions cap is sure to come the way of skipper Kane, which would see the 31-year-old move level with Sir Bobby Charlton and Frank Lampard into joint-seventh place on the all-time men’s appearances list.

On Andorra’s side, the Tricolours will be missing the invaluable experience of 42-year-old Marc Pujol, as the 122-cap veteran has not been summoned to the national team for this round of fixtures.

In a further blow to the hosts’ hopes of a monumental shock, five-goal striker Albert Rosas Ubach – his country’s joint second-highest scorer of all time – is nowhere to be seen either, so captain Marc Vales should shoulder some of the attacking responsibility.

Thirty-five-year-old Vales will reach 100 appearances for Andorra if he features against England and Serbia this month, while Iker Alvarez – who represents Villarreal’s B team – starts in goal.

Andorra possible starting lineup:

Alvarez; Borra, San Nicolas, Llovera, Olivera, M. Garcia; Rodrigo, Vales, Babot, Cervos; Fernandez

England possible starting lineup:

Pickford; Alexander-Arnold, Konsa, Colwill, Lewis-Skelly; Rice, Bellingham; Saka, Palmer, Gordon; Kane

We say: Andorra 0-7 England

Much bigger tests are yet to come of course, but as has been the case in years gone by, whoever is in charge of England should oversee the most comfortable of comfortable victories against Andorra.

The Tricolours do not even have the benefit of playing on home soil – no stadium in Andorra meets UEFA’s requirements when it comes to matches against this calibre of opponent – so England will no doubt leave their opponents battered and bruised in Barcelona.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Written by
Ben Knapton

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