England set the standard with Serbia rout: coach Thomas Tuchel

BELGRADE – Thomas Tuchel urged “amazing” England to use their 5-0 demolition of Serbia as the standard they must maintain on the road to the 2026 World Cup.

The Three Lions finally delivered the first eye-catching performance of the German’s reign as Serbia were beaten in Belgrade on Sept 9.

Goals from Harry Kane, Noni Madueke, Ezri Konsa, Marc Guehi and Marcus Rashford moved England closer to qualifying for the World Cup in North America. They sit top of Group K after five successive victories, with 13 goals scored and none conceded.

Tuchel’s men need a maximum of five points from their last three games to book their spot at the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Criticised for a series of lacklustre displays in his first five matches, Tuchel was relieved to see England produce the kind of vibrant show he had promised after succeeding Gareth Southgate.

“I told you! Yes, you need a bit of trust in what we’re doing. We tell you what we feel, and we see what we see in camp. I don’t lie to you. If I didn’t see it, I would say we’re not there yet,” he said.

“We’ve only had three weeks of training and that’s normally half a pre-season. It takes time and in between there are weeks of pause.

“Today is a statement victory against a difficult opponent in a difficult environment. There was no negative attitude on the pitch. For me, it was teamwork in its purest form. We played football to a high level. The players did excellent. The credit goes to them, they did amazing. That’s the bar.”

After successive runners-up finishes in the European Championship under Southgate, former Bayern Munich and Chelsea boss Tuchel has been tasked with winning England’s first major trophy since the 1966 World Cup.

Their drab 2-0 win against minnows Andorra in Birmingham on Sept 6 had raised questions about Tuchel’s ability to extract the maximum from his talented squad.

But their impressively mature effort in the hostile Rajko Mitic Stadium provided evidence that he is on the right track, although much sterner tests await.

“I’m more than happy for the team and staff. We had an excellent week from start to finish. We’ve just proved what I’ve seen every day in this camp and this makes me very happy,” Tuchel added.

“We played with a lot of intensity, a lot of work in teamwork and we showed our quality. We kept Serbia to no shots on target and you have to put in a lot of work that you do not get praise for. It is good to watch. This camp was the benchmark.”

There was also more joy as Tottenham Hotspur defender Djed Spence made history when he came off the bench to become the first Muslim to earn a senior cap for England.

Spence, 25, replaced Chelsea’s Reece James in the 68th minute.

“I was surprised because I didn’t know I was the first, so it’s a blessing,” London-born Spence said.

“It’s good to make history and hopefully inspire young kids around the world that they can make it as well. They can do what I am doing.”

In other matches, Norway emphatically maintained their 100 per cent record, while Portugal and France overturned deficits to make it back-to-back wins to open their bids to reach the World Cup.

The Norwegians produced the perfect response to second-placed Italy’s dramatic 5-4 victory over Israel on Sept 8 with an 11-1 thumping of Moldova to make it five wins from five in Group I.

Haaland was the star of the show, scoring a first-half hat-trick before adding two more after the break. Thelo Aasgaard added four off the bench with Martin Odegaard and Felix Horn Myhre also finding the net. Moldova found the net via a Leo Ostigard own goal.

France clung on for a 2-1 success over Iceland despite Aurelien Tchouameni’s sending off and a late effort from Andri Gudjohnsen that was disallowed by the video assistant referee. Kylian Mbappe and Bradley Barcola scored for Les Bleus after Gudjohnsen’s opener.

Portugal clinched a 3-2 win over Hungary thanks to Joao Cancelo’s late goal. Bernardo Silva and Cristiano Ronaldo scored their other goals while Barnabas Varga bagged a brace for Hungary. AFP