Thomas Tuchel's era with England has started solidly but not very impressively. The "Three Lions" won 2-0 against Albania to kick off the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Europe.
While Tuchel has largely relied on the core squad that has served very well during Gareth Southgate's eight years in charge, there have been some surprising additions. This includes Dan Burn and Myles Lewis-Skelly making their first international debuts.
At 18 years and 176 days, the Arsenal full-back became the youngest player to score in his England debut, surpassing Marcus Rashford's record of 18 years and 209 days in the match against Australia in May 2016.
A familiar face who scored the second goal under Tuchel was England captain Harry Kane. This was the Bayern Munich striker's 70th goal for the "Three Lions".
That goal helped Kane become the first English player to score on his debut under three different managers (Roy Hodgson, Southgate and Tuchel). Meanwhile, he has also scored 41 goals in 36 appearances in the qualifying rounds of major tournaments (World Cup and EURO).
Latvia also had a smooth start in Group K when Dario Sits' goal was enough to bring them a 1-0 victory over Andorra. They have never qualified for the World Cup, with EURO 2004 being the only time they have reached the finals of a major tournament in history.
The Latvia has not been in good form recently. They are bottom of the Nations League with the participation of Northern province province province province province province, Armenia and the Faroe Islands.
England - Latvia head-to-head record
This will be the first meeting between England and Latvia. The "Three Lions" are unbeaten in their last 32 World Cup qualifiers (24 wins, 8 draws), the longest streak of success among European countries.
Meanwhile, Latvia are unbeaten in their last three World Cup qualifiers, drawing 0-0 with Norway and defeating Gibraltar 3-1 to end the 2022 campaign in a poor run.
The last time Latvia went unbeaten in more World Cup qualifiers was from October 2008 to September 2009 (5 matches). The 5-point mark for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers is their best in their history.
With England easily beating the 65th-placed team in the FIFA rankings, Albania, it is no surprise that they are rated much higher to continue to be relegated to Latvia (ranked 140).
The match between England and Latvia takes place at 2:45 am on March 25 (Vietnam time).
