England crush Latvia to qualify for World Cup

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England reached their eighth successive World Cup at a canter as Thomas Tuchel's improving side thrashed Latvia 5-0 in Riga to qualify with two games to spare.

The Three Lions made light work of their Baltic opponents in their first-ever meeting and for the third game in a row were 3-0 up at half-time and already dreaming of next summer's finals in the USA, Canada and Mexico.

The irrepressible Harry Kane played a large part in their half-time dominance with a quickfire double, first curling home from the edge of the box having missed a far harder chance moments earlier before adding his 76th international goal with a penalty he won himself with help from a VAR review.

Again, England enjoyed near-total dominance and found none of the same difficulty they had done in breaking down defensive opponents in some of Tuchel's earlier games, and had the ball in the net inside the first minute through Kane whose joy was short-lived owing to an offside flag against Bukayo Saka.

England remained patient where they had once tended to lose concentration to take advantage of a rare Latvia attack and spring the opener on the counter attack, with John Stones' ball into the channel allowing Anthony Gordon to use his pace to cut inside and bend in a fine strike for his second international goal.

Anthony Gordon celebrates scoring against Latvia for England

Image: Anthony Gordon's strike was just his second goal for England

While Latvia spent most of the rest of the half proving a stubborn nut to crack the travelling support instead began to playfully goad Tuchel after his criticism of England's home support against Wales with chants including "Tuchel, give us a song!" and "1-0 to the library".

Their attention turned back to the pitch moments before the interval when Kane, who had already missed two previous presentable chances, buried the hardest of the three on his left foot with a textbook low placed finish from 20 yards.

The hosts' collapse was labelled "madness" by Sky Sports' Roy Keane at the interval, aimed largely at a mindless shirt pull on Kane in the Latvia box which was always likely to be picked up by VAR. The skipper duly netted his 24th England penalty from 28 attempts to put England out of sight by the break.

With keeping focus England's toughest opponent after the break Ezri Konsa was caught flat-footed by Vladislavs Gutkovskis but recovered superbly to deny the hosts' top goalscorer with a magnificent sliding challenge as he shaped to shoot.

It was soon back to business as usual as an inviting Djed Spence cross was flapped at by Krisjanis Zviedris and unwittingly turned into his own net by Maksims Tonisevs, before substitute Eberechi Eze gave Tuchel a reminder of his quality with a late fifth from Jarrod Bowen's ball.

More to follow...

When is the 2026 World Cup draw?

The draw for the 2026 World Cup will take place in Washington on December 5.

President Trump will join FIFA President Gianni Infantino at the John F Kennedy Center - a performing arts venue where Trump is chairman - to decide the group stage fixtures.

Announcing the draw venue at the White House in August, Trump said the World Cup was "the biggest event in sports", while Infantino declared the 104 matches would be like "104 Super Bowls".

The draw will take place from 12pm local time (5pm UK time).

When is the 2026 World Cup?

The 2026 FIFA men's World Cup takes place from June 11 to July 19, 2026.

It will be the 23rd edition of the tournament.

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