England kicked off Thomas Tuchel’s tenure with a 2-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Albania on Friday evening.
Myles Lewis-Skelly opened the scoring in the 20th minute, capitalizing on a brilliant through ball from Jude Bellingham. The 18-year-old finished coolly under goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha to net his first goal as a senior England international.
Only two players have scored for the England men’s team at a younger age than Lewis-Skelly, and no debutant in the national team’s 153-year history has matched his impressive start.
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At the other end of the experience spectrum, Harry Kane added a second for England in the 78th minute, taking his tally to 70 goals in 104 appearances. His strike came after Albania had put together a strong spell of pressure, threatening to spoil Tuchel’s debut.
In the end, England secured a comfortable 2-0 win. While the result didn’t quite dampen the excitement around Tuchel’s appointment, the performance wasn’t drastically different from the one seen under Gareth Southgate’s much-criticized regime.