Key events
A debate in the office: is Chris Wood currently the world’s most famous Kiwi? Maybe Russell Crowe excepted…
Chris Wood booked for signing autographs
Per Reuters
New Zealand forward Chris Wood received one of the strangest yellow cards of the season when he was booked for signing autographs in the stands after scoring a hat-trick in his side’s 7-0 defeat of Fiji in a World Cup qualifier.
Wood, who has enjoyed a superb season at Premier League club Nottingham Forest, was substituted to a standing ovation after his third goal in Wellington and headed straight to the stands to sign autographs and have his photo taken with fans.
However, Wood’s act of goodwill incurred the wrath of referee Norbert Hauata who cautioned the striker as he made his way back to the pitch-side because the game was still going on.
“If that’s the rules, that’s the rules, Wood was quoted as saying by France 24. “Just doing something nice and trying to sign for the fans.”
The All Whites will meet New Caledonia in the final of Oceania qualifying in Auckland on Monday as they try to book their first World Cup spot since South Africa 2010.
Cunha banned for extra match
Per Reuters
Wolverhampton Wanderers forward Matheus Cunha has been handed an additional one-match ban and fined £50,000 pounds after admitting to acting in an improper manner after his red card at Bournemouth in the FA Cup.
Cunha was initially handed a three-match ban after being sent off for a clash with Milos Kerkez, argued with referees, teammates and staff before leaving the pitch. Wolves lost the match on penalties.
“Matheus Cunha will now be suspended from domestic football until Sunday, 13 April,” the FA said. Cunha, currently on international duty with Brazil, has already missed two of Wolves’ Premier League matches, and will also be absent from their games against West Ham United and Ipswich Town next month before returning against Tottenham Hotspur on April 13.
Wolves sit 17th in the league, nine points clear of the relegation zone.
A back four is the talk from the England camp, though will Tuchel expect there to be flexibility? This is the era of attacking full-backs, and Livramento and old warhorse Kyle Walker will expect to bomb on. Will those roles eventually fall to Trent Alexander-Arnold and Lewis Hall, both missing with injury?
Krishna gets in touch: “Bring football home” is a war cry delivered by ignoramuses. It is essentially pointless in that it puts unrealistic expectations (and hence pressure) on players who must be focusing on their game. It is also insulting to other (more) capable opponents. Let us be fair; England has won it once; at home. We will make it to the quarter finals with reasonable ambition.
Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Netherlands, Germany, France, England and there will always be one dark horse (Morocco, South Korea, Japan, Uruguay, USA….). We are also assuming that England is not that dark horse. The group stages, the form of the opponents, injuries, weather (summer in USA), VAR, poor decisions, red mists (Scholes, Terry and the likes) – so many factors play a role in making progress in a tournament where after the formality of the group stage, it is knockout straightaway with no cushion of a two legged last 32, last 16, QF or a SF. Forget “ bring football home”, let us bring back Joga Bonito.”
In my editing days, I used to remove any mention of the beautiful game.
Hello there. Just chewing over the England team that will play tonight – will it be three at the back, four?
Three at the back worked in Russia, in 2018. That semi-final team against Croatia: all those players still eligible and the back five, minus Harry Maguire but plus Harry Kane, are all part of the squad. Ashley Young, 40 this year, has been excellent for Everton. If it’s only next year then why not?
And with that, my work here is done. The estimable John Brewin is stepping into the breach.
Tonight’s World Cup qualifying fixtures in Europe are as follows:
Group G
Malta v Finland
Poland v Lithuania
Group H
Cyprus v San Marino
Romania v Bosnia-Herzegovina
Group K
Andorra v Latvia
England v Albania
There’s also Northern Ireland v Switzerland in an international friendly. You can see all the fixtures here.
Rick, who we all agree with, is back!
He writes:
“Interesting reading the article on how best to accommodate Harry Kane as I note that France failed to score against Croatia last night despite having Mbappé, Dembélé and Barcola with goals dripping from their boots in club football, and were beaten by a team with 400-year-old Luka Modric and 399-year-old Ivan Perisic. Oh, and hot-streak Rasmus Hojlund scored the winner against the CR7 monster wielding Portugal.”
Here is a piece on Japan’s 2026 World Cup qualification from Dan Orlowitz:
“Not bored by Kane at all,” emails Mark. “Probably the best English footballer I have ever seen alongside Wayne Rooney, Glenn Hoddle and Sol Campbell.”
“I think it’s remarkable that the Uefa qualifiers start tonight, and Japan have already qualified,” emails Kári Tulinius. “It can’t have happened very often in modern times that a non-hosting country has qualified ahead of the first ball being kicked in a European qualifier.
“I’ll admit that I’m finding it hard to get excited about tonight’s opening round of fixtures. As a resident of Finland I have an emotional interest in the Eagle-Owls’ game against Malta, but most of these seem like the sort of matches that might be described as banana skins. The only exception is Romania v Bosnia-Herzegovina, who should be fighting it out for the second spot in Group H, and might even get automatic qualification if Austria stumble.
“The African qualifiers are a bit more exciting, with Algeria attempting to keep up in Group G with pacesetters Mozambique by beating Botswana, who are currently in third. Meanwhile in Group C, which is probably the most finely poised, Lesotho travel across their only border to take on South Africa, who have been making characteristically heavy weather of qualifying, currently lying in third behind Rwanda, who face Nigeria, who have yet to win a single match.
“The big match tonight is undoubtedly when Uruguay welcome Argentina to the Estadio Centenario. The same fixture as the first World Cup final, in the very ground where it took place. Since it kicks off at half past one in the morning here in Finland, it’s a bit late for me, but I know which highlights I’ll be looking up first when I wake up.”
Guéhi may be left out against Albania
Jacob Steinberg
Marc Guéhi could be a surprising omission from the England team later. The centre-back was a regular during last year’s run to the Euros final but this is a new era. It’s worth remembering that Tuchel likes height – see the call up of Dan Burn, who could make his debut next to Ezri Konsa tonight. Tuchel is also the manager who sold Guéhi from Chelsea to Crystal Palace.
Are you bored of Harry Kane? “>Get in touch.
If you missed it … Harry Kane believes his achievements are taken for granted and that people are “bored” by his goal-scoring.
“It’s like when Ronaldo and Messi were throwing these crazy numbers out there and the next season they’d score 40 goals instead of 50 and it was like they were having a bad season,” Kane said. “People take it for granted and maybe a little bit with England as well. I’ve scored 69 goals and when you score against Albania or Latvia, or these teams, people just expect it so it’s not spoken about so much.
“Say if I was 25 now and doing what I’m doing, the excitement around me would maybe be a little bit different to what it is now. Again, that’s part of where we are with football and I’ve seen it with some other players as they get into their 30s. Maybe people just get a little bit bored of what you do, but I’m certainly not bored. I’m excited for these games and the games ahead.”
Kane’s goals this season for Bayern have fired them to the brink of the Bundesliga title while they are also in the Champions League quarter-finals, but it has not made him immune to to criticism.
“It’s hard. Sometimes it motivates me. Sometimes, to be honest I try to stay away from it as much as I can,” he added. “Probably, when I was young I listened to more than what I do now. Ultimately, I criticise myself more than anyone could do on the outside but … always use it as fuel to prove people wrong.
“Today’s game, I feel like there’s such a difference between a high and a low. You go from not scoring for a couple of games, to people saying he’s not sharp enough … to scoring and you’re a Ballon d’Or contender and it’s like, the difference is too high and too low. I know what I’ve done in my career and I feel like I have a lot of respect from a lot of football people out there and I’ve achieved a lot in my career.” (PA Media)
Declan Rice hosting Myles Lewis-Skelly and Dan Burn, for an episode of “England Generations” on the official channels, is actually excellent content:
Myle Lewis-Skelly of Arsenal, called up by England for the first time by Thomas Tuchel, has been having a chat with the FA’s media team.
“Initially, the day before I got the call-up, I was on the phone with my friends and I got a call when I was on the phone with them,” said Lewis-Skelly.
“It said no number so I told my friends, ‘one second, I need to take this call’. I’m thinking, ‘there’s a good chance that it could be a call-up’ but I ended up picking up and it was Uber Eats for my mum! I was like, ‘ah, man’. Then the next day, I got a text confirming it.”
Of his first experience of a senior England camp, Lewis-Skelly added: “There’s been so much to take in, but I feel like every moment, I’ve been present and I’ve taken it day by day. It’s something that you dream of and when it actually comes, obviously I visualised it and I work towards these moments but when it actually comes, you’re still so happy.
“I would say that it hasn’t been by accident because I’ve put in the work and I’ve really had self-belief and trust in my ability to do what I’m doing.”
(Quotes courtesy englandfootball.com)
Enough of all this England gubbins: Jeff Stelling says go and watch your non-league team this weekend. Quite right, Jeff, and not in the least bit unbelievable:
Non-league clubs can offer fans looking to get a live football fix over the international break something different, according to Hartlepool president Jeff Stelling. While Premier League and Championship clubs are not in action this weekend, with some EFL games also postponed, there is a full programme of fixtures down the pyramid.
As part of this year’s Non-League Day on March 22 – which sees its partnership with Prostate Cancer UK continue for an 11th season – there is an opportunity for fans to get a picture alongside the Premier League trophy during a two-day ground hop around the Essex Senior League.
While trips to the likes of Benfleet or Takeley may not normally hold appeal, Stelling feels taking a chance to help provide “lifeblood” to the clubs with extra people through the gates will prove money well spent.
“Hopefully, just for a weekend, it puts non-league football a little more in the spotlight,” said Stelling, who has been honorary president of Hartlepool since 2015. “I know a lot of fans of big clubs hate international breaks, so it is a great opportunity for fans of those teams to just have a little look at non-league football and what it has to offer.
“It might well be something they have never thought about doing before, but if they go, they will realise it is a very different, much more all-embracing experience than it is to go and watch a Premier League side.
“This is a chance for people to go along and sample that, and I think for a lot of people, after they do it once, they will go back on a relatively regular basis.”
Stelling added: “Getting people paying to go into those non-league games is significantly more important to those clubs than it is at the top level, because they have got so much funding and sponsorship.
“But at a lower level, attendance money is still really important. It is still the lifeblood of those clubs really, so it is important that people go along.” (PA Media)
Also from Barney Ronay, this is from last Friday after Tuchel’s press conference, and well worth a read:
“Thomas Tuchel’s first squad conference was in the event a highly convincing production, expertly phrased, and hitting just the right note of hope versus realism.”
“Firstly just to point out that Anthony Gordon was suspended for the final and not injured, so presumably he’ll be raring to go for England,” writes Ben.
“I also agree with Rick, although it wasn’t just the failure to utilise Gordon on the left that was the issue. As pointed out by Barney Ronay in this paper yesterday, the lack of pace and willingness to run beyond Kane was a big issue and so Bellingham and Foden in attacking midfield were largely static in their positions rather than running at defenders with the ball or beyond Kane without it.
“Add to that the use of full-backs who largely wouldn’t overlap, including the baffling persistence with Trippier at left back who wouldn’t and possibly couldn’t do anything else other than cut in and pass backwards or inside, and we just had no incisiveness or dynamism in attack.
“While Kane had a poor Euros, he could surely have been better if the team had actually been set up differently. It sounds from what he’s been saying already that Tuchel will be alive to this and won’t just try and stick all our ‘best’ players on the pitch together regardless of whether they suit the tactics or the system.”
An email arrives, entitled “Football coming home”, from Paul in Liverpool:
“I’ve always found that phrase cringeworthy and nonsensical. England has plenty of football “at home”. It doesn’t have trophies. That song is crap as well.”
Say what you see, Paul.
One final thing from last night … Cecilio Waterman made a beeline for Thierry Henry, the CBS pundit, after scoring Panama’s late winner against the USA in Inglewood, California last night.
‘Thank God I understand Spanish,” Henry said. “When he said, “Eres mi idolo’, [“You are my idol]) and I was like, “OK, phew!” … that was special, really.’
“That was a hell of a finish, by the way,” Henry added.
Ben Fisher
When Iñigo Calderón was appointed Bristol Rovers head coach on Boxing Day last year, his memories of the Memorial Stadium soon came flooding back. He played there once in the third tier for Brighton, the club where he became a cult hero, but his first visit had stuck in his mind. It was November 2009, while he was hunting for a club after exiting Alavés of his native Basque Country, and after trials with Gillingham, Norwich and Swansea, Southampton’s visit to Rovers in the FA Cup was next on his itinerary. “I stayed in a bed and breakfast round the corner, on Gloucester Road,” he says, smiling. “The last thing I was thinking then was: ‘I could coach here.’ It was kind of romantic when I came back.”
A migrant worker has died while working on a new stadium being built for the 2034 World Cup in Saudi Arabia, the Guardian can reveal.
Muhammad Arshad, from Pakistan, fell to his death from an upper level during the construction of the Aramco Stadium in the eastern city of Al Khobar on 12 March, according to sources with knowledge of the incident.
“We do need to entertain but maybe we need to define it a little differently. It’s not only a 4-0 or a 5-1 that’s entertaining but that the fans feel the spirit, that they fall in love with this team because they entertain them on whatever level. So a defender, for example, can entertain with hard tackles. Once the team feels the love and excitement around it, we can win easier.
“How does this team interact with each other? How do they celebrate a goal? How do they defend the goal? How do they celebrate a good tackle? Is the bench involved? Are they not involved? Is there chemistry – yes or no? I think that you [in the media] and the spectators and the people watching on TV … you can feel it if they have it or not.”
Thomas Tuchel, there. Click here to find out more:
The England defender Millie Turner has signed a new deal with Manchester United until the summer of 2028. The 28-year-old returned to United when the women’s side launched in 2018, having been in their academy.
She has gone on to make 167 appearances, scoring 11 goals, and helped them win the FA Cup last season. Turner has two senior England caps, with her Lionesses debut coming in February last year.
United manager Marc Skinner said: “Millie has been here since the beginning, and she is an important part of the team. She’s part of my leadership group but I still think there is even more growth to come. We have unfinished business and aspirations for success, she is hungry to keep improving and a key person in driving the high standards we have here as a club.” (PA Media)
Oh but one thing … can we please dispense with the “bring football home” nonsense?
Probably as much hope of that as Tuchel being allowed to simply focus on the football.
As we hurtle towards midday, here are a few other football bits from last night. Get stuck in:
I agree with Rick. By the same token dropping Kane for Watkins maybe would have taken a bit of bravery – it was also completely obvious that it needed doing. Southgate’s argument against it concerned the resulting lack of on-pitch leadership but Kane looked so out of sorts (and/or out of position) it arguably outweighed any other concern.
“I think Tuchel has hit the nail on the head about England’s failure to bring football home at Euro 2024,” writes Rick. “Southgate originally said he was going to pick players on form but ended up picking them on reputation and previous performances. He also had the most incredible blind spot when it came to making use of the left flank and having left out Rashford from the squad (having failed to use him effectively at World Cup 2022) he gave Gordon about 18 minutes in a group game where despite it being crystal clear how much more dynamic we immediately were, he never got off the bench again.”
Speaking of Reece James, I hear he gave an interview to ITV earlier this week that was taken down from social media, in which he said Tuchel is the best coach he’s worked with.
James [reportedly] said: “[Tuchel is] the best,” James said. “There’s various reasons why. He brought trophies to Chelsea when we probably least expected it, in a difficult period.”
As for England’s potential lineup I fancy Marc Guéhi and Reece James will both start, presuming all is well fitness-wise … and it would be nice to see Eberechi Eze get a run-out.
“I guess we are all waiting to see what team Thomas Tuchel picks for his first game as England manager,” emails Rick.
“Pickford, Bellingham, Kane and Rice are certain starters and Big Dan Burn, Kyle Walker and Livramento also look highly probable.
“Given that Anthony Gordon missed the League Cup final through injury or illness I reckon Tuchel may go with Rashford on the left flank. After that I haven’t a clue.”
Can we all agree that Dan Burn’s official name is “Big Dan Burn”. Like “Big George North.”
“Morning Luke,” emails krishnamoorthy. “This is a common story in the corporate world: A new CEO takes charge. His predecessor gives him three envelopes. Tells him to open them as and when he faces insurmountable challenges.
“Time passes by and the new guy faces his first challenge. He opens the first envelope. Inside is a sheet of paper with a simple instruction: “Blame your predecessor.” He does and the problem blows over.
“Soon he faces his second challenge. This time the note says “Blame the market”. He survives again. After a few months he faces his gravest challenge. The final envelope has a note that says: “Make three envelopes.” Tuchel has opened his first!”
Nice story, but I don’t agree that Tuchel is blaming Southgate for anything. This is a relatively clean slate after all. It is certainly interesting that Tuchel felt it was appropriate to be quite so scathing about the Euro 2024 campaign, though.
Another interesting line from Tuchel here. He wants to focus on the football and not get dragged into anything political … good luck with that Thomas.
“I think we have the best chance when you allow the head coach to focus on football,” Tuchel said. “I understand from [the media’s] perspective maybe the importance of the role, but maybe I can hide a little bit behind being not English and not talk to everything that happens in your country out of respect and focus a little bit more on football.”
For readers of a certain vintage and fittingly for a tournament across the pond, there will be a strong A-Team vibe to the next 16 months … Can Tuchel and his coaching team lock themselves away in a barn and weld together an improvised assault vehicle capable of winning the World Cup final on 19 July, 2026?
It’s Friday, it’s nearly 11am … it’s quiz time:
An important story by Paul MacInnes, Lorenzo Buzzoni and Chris Matthews:
The prevalence of gambling money in European football has been laid bare by new research that shows two-thirds of teams across 31 top divisions have at least one sponsorship deal with a betting firm.
As the Premier League counts down to a ban on front-of-shirt sponsorship by gambling companies, due to come into force next year, data also shows clubs in European countries have found ways to get around such restrictions.
A bit more Kane from yesterday: “We need to be willing to have uncomfortable conversations [in the Tuchel era] … to push your teammate on in a different way.
“To be in a winning team, you need to have those uncomfortable conversations … we need more players to be comfortable talking, and pushing other players. If we do that we’ll be in a good place.”
Rogers pushing for England start at Wembley
Jacob Steinberg
Morgan Rogers is pushing for a starting spot in attack when the Thomas Tuchel era begins with England’s World Cup qualifier against Albania tonight.
Rogers, who can play in a variety of roles in attacking midfield, has been in fine form for Aston Villa this season and has done well in training this week. He has not started for England yet but could feature as the No 10 against Albania, with Jude Bellingham in a slightly deeper role with Declan Rice.
Phil Foden and Anthony Gordon will hope to fend off competition from Marcus Rashford, Jarrod Bowen and Eberechi Eze on the wings.
Craig Gordon has warned that Scotland’s Nations League play-off against Greece is “by no means finished” following Thursday night’s 1-0 win in Athens. Scott McTominay’s 33rd-minute penalty gave Steve Clarke’s side the lead but the visitors had to survive almost constant second-half pressure from Greece to take an advantage back to Hampden Park for Sunday’s return leg.
The Scotland keeper insists there is still work to do before League A survival is assured.
He said: “It is still a difficult game. The tie is in the balance. You could see the quality that they have, so still another big performance needed.
“This is by no means finished, it will still be a very difficult one going into the second leg. It was a big win. We had to work really hard, especially in the second half to hang on to it. But great determination shown by everybody to grind out that second half and stay in the lead.
“We could have been more than one goal up at half-time. Maybe the second half would have panned out differently if we had managed to get further ahead.
“But give credit to Greece in the second half, they came out, put us under a lot of pressure and it was a backs-to-the-wall performance that ground out the 1-0 at the end. The guys in front were chucking themselves in front of things, it was quite desperate at times. Sometimes you have to do that to keep the ball out your net and I thought we did it very well in the second half.” (PA Media)
Leander Schaerlaeckens
On the eve of what turned out to be his first loss in a competitive match in charge of the United States men’s national team and the end of his honeymoon with his newish employers, Mauricio Pochettino said something accidentally prescient.
“Football is about timing and it’s about form and the situation of the player,” he said to a room of reporters ahead of the US’s 1-0 loss to Panama.
“I think they’re totally different characters,” Harry Kane said last night, asked about Thomas v Gareth. “Just in their personalities, the way they are on the pitch, and probably off the pitch as well.
“Obviously I had a great relationship with Gareth … we were similar in a lot of ways … I think we were quite quiet and understanding, and we had a lot of conversations about things.
“With Thomas, I think he brings a lot more energy, enthusiasm … already this week on the training pitch and in the meetings … he brings a lot of passion when he’s talking.
“It’s been great. Obviously I saw a lot of it last season. He was a big reason I went to Bayern Munich in the first place. I know his attributes, and I know how a good a coach he is.
“I think all the boys have been impressed with him, and now we’re just excited to get out there and start the next chapter.”
It’s still early, so how about a Nations League roundup from last night?
Spain snatched a stoppage-time equaliser against the 10 men of the Netherlands to secure a 2-2 draw on Thursday that kept up a two-year unbeaten streak
Aaron Ramsdale, Morgan Gibbs-White and Jarell Quansah have been told by Tuchel that they will not play any part for England against Albania tonight.
In other news, Scotland beat Greece 1-0 in the Nations League last night thanks to a penalty from Napoli midfield general Scott McTominay. Ewan Murray has the story:
I reckon England were also a little bit light on a centre-forward who can run fast, when it comes to Euro 2024.
Barney Ronay wrote about why Kane needs pace around him and how Gareth Southgate seemingly lost sight of how best to use him last summer:
Harry Kane: “I would say we were a little bit light on leadership in the summer. Especially when things are not going so well, or there’s a lot of noise around the camp, that’s when you need players like me and someone like Jordan [Henderson]. It’s great to have him. We complement each other very well in the way we lead.”
I’m sure there will be a few opinions on that. “>Why not email me?
Preamble
Today is the first day of the rest of Thomas Tuchel’s life. He officially began his role as England head coach in January, but his team spring into action for the first time at Wembley this evening, against Albania in a Group K qualifier for the 2026 World Cup in North America.
Tuchel has been brought in as an elite, gun-for-hire coach on an 18-month contract with a clear objective: winning that tournament in the US, Mexico and Canada next summer. As the old saying goes, you can’t win the World Cup in your first qualifier, but you can certainly produce an insipid performance that provokes a few days of teeth-gnashing from the media.
Alternatively, of course, you can also win handsomely and set an upbeat tone for a qualifying campaign – which would be handy because as Tuchel has told his players, they have a mere 24 days of training between the German taking charge and the start of next year’s tournament.
One way or another, this should be entertaining, especially given Tuchel’s criticism of Gareth Southgate’s side at last summer’s Euros. Let’s go!
