NEW BOSS THOMAS TUCHEL CRITICAL OF EFFICIENT ENGLAND, DODGERS GAME SETS JAPAN TV RECORD

England's uninspiring performance against Albania in World Cup qualifier leaves manager saying team 'have to do better'.

Thomas Tuchel made a winning start to life as England coach with a 2-0 victory against Albania in 2026 World Cup qualifying on Friday, while Robert Lewandowski handed Poland a narrow win over Lithuania.

Goals in either half from debutant Myles Lewis-Skelly and captain Harry Kane were enough to get England over the line as they began their qualification campaign for the next World Cup, which will take place in the USA, Canada and Mexico.

Since taking over the reins from Gareth Southgate in January, Tuchel promised a more vibrant England side but there were only a few fleeting examples of that in an uninspiring yet efficient win at Wembley.

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"We can do better, we have to do better. We started well, we had seven-eight minutes with 100 per cent ball possession with a lot of passes and high energy," Tuchel said.

"Second half, I felt we were too slow and in general not enough runs off the ball to get behind the line."

The 51-year-old German described managing England at Wembley for the first time as a "very new experience", adding: "Myles Lewis-Skelly debuts with me on the pitch, so I am not all alone."

Lewis-Skelly, aged 18 years and 176 days, became the youngest player to score on his England debut when he slid a composed finish through the legs of goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha on 20 minutes, following a sublime through-ball by Jude Bellingham.

"I'm lost for words really. I'm just so grateful to the manager for putting trust in me," the Arsenal teenager said.

The other moment of inspiration in the match came with 13 minutes remaining as Kane plucked a deep Declan Rice cross out of the air at the back post and slotted the ball into the far corner.

Elsewhere on the opening match day of European qualifying, Poland edged a 1-0 win against Lithuania in Warsaw.

Barcelona striker Lewandowski fired home from the edge of the box in the 81st minute to give Michal Probierz's side a winning start in Group G.

Finland overcame Malta by the same scoreline thanks to a first-half goal by Oliver Antman, with the hosts finishing a player down after Maltese defender Kurt Shaw was dismissed.

Cyprus top Group H thanks to a 2-0 home victory over San Marino, while Bosnia and Herzegovina won 1-0 in Romania. In England's Group K, Latvia also got under way with a win, beating Andorra 1-0.

Record TV audience

Tuesday's first game of the Tokyo Series averaged more than 25 million viewers in Japan according to Major League Baseball, making it the most-watched MLB game in the country's history.

The audience for the Los Angeles Dodgers' 4-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs surpassed the 18.7 million viewers who tuned in for the first game of last year's Seoul Series in South Korea, which featured the Dodgers against the San Diego Padres.

Tuesday's game featured the first all-Japanese starting pitching duel on opening day. Los Angeles' Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in five innings while Chicago's Shota Imanaga threw four scoreless frames.

The Dodgers' 6-3 win on Wednesday, which featured a towering solo home run by Shohei Ohtani, averaged more than 23 million Japanese viewers. The second game also featured pitcher Roki Sasaki making his Dodgers' debut.

The two games in the US - which started at 5am in Chicago and 3am in Los Angeles - averaged 590,000 viewers. Tuesday's game on Fox averaged 838,000 viewers with Wednesday's on FS1 drawing 361,000.

New team please

Chelsea's opening opponents at this June's Club World Cup have been removed from the competition, Fifa announced on Friday.

Mexican side Leon will not play in the 32-team event in the United States after a Fifa appeals committee determined they and another club from Mexico, Pachuca, failed to meet tournament regulations on multi-club ownership.

Both sides are owned by Grupo Pachuca. The decision to allow both teams to enter had been challenged by a Costa Rican club, Alajuelense.

Fifa said on Friday that a replacement club would be announced in due course.

Article 10.1 of the tournament regulations states that no club taking part in the competition may directly or indirectly hold or deal in the securities or shares of any other club taking part in the competition.

Chelsea were expected to face Leon in Atlanta on June 16. The other teams in Chelsea's group are Flamengo of Brazil and Tunisian side Esperance.

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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.

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2025-03-22T00:43:00Z