A goal in either half got Thomas Tuchel (and assistants Anthony Barry and Henrique Hilário) off to a winning start as England manager, with the Three Lions taking care of business against Albania to begin the qualifying process for the 2026 World Cup.

Goals came courtesy of debutant Miles Lewis-Skelly and all-time leading goalscorer Harry Kane, as England dominated possession 75-25 and restricted the visitors to just three shots (none on target). Not exactly scintillating stuff, but effective enough.

Lewis-Skelly, who found the net just 20 minutes into his senior debut, became England’s youngest ever goalscorer in the process, at just 18 years and 176 days of age (33 days younger than previous record-holder Marcus Rashford). He was replaced by Reece James for the final few minutes of the game for the Chelsea captain’s first national team appearance in nearly two (very injury-hit) years.

Levi Colwill went an unused substitute. Chelsea loanee Armando Broja played about 30 minutes off the bench for Albania.

Elsewhere in World Cup qualifying, Moisés Caicedo played the full-90 in Ecuador’s 2-1 win over Venezuela while Enzo Fernández did the same in Argentina’s 1-0 win over Uruguay. Kendry Páez was an unused substitute by Ecuador while Estêvão was the same for Brazil in their 2-1 win over Colombia.

Defending champions Argentina are now all but assured of a spot at the 2026 edition, while Ecuador and Brazil are not far behind in the CONMEBOL qualification standings.