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England thrashed a dismal Serbia 5-0 as their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign rolled on today.
Harry Kane (33’), Noni Madueke (35’), Ezri Konsa (52’), Marc Guehi (75’) and Marcus Rashford (90’) got the goals.
England stay top of of Group K with five wins from five as their perfect qualifying record continued in Belgrade.
GO FURTHER
Serbia 0 England 5: World Cup within sight as Tuchel’s team click
Thursday, October 9: Wales (home), friendly, 7.45pm UK, 2.45pm ET
Tuesday, October 14: Latvia (away), FIFA World Cup qualifying, 7.45pm UK, 2.45pm ET
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If that performance is a sign of things to come, then England fans can feel enthused heading into the World Cup next summer. Captain Harry Kane is certainly enjoying the project, as he told ITV:
💬 “We made it comfortable in the end, so it's credit to the boys. In an attacking sense, we got it all right today.
“When I was dropping in we had runners in behind, we just used everything to our advantage. We knew with our pace in the team and Morgan in the pockets, we could dominate and that's what happened.
“It was also nice to get some set-piece goals, I know the set-piece coach Paul has been waiting for that one. We spoke earlier in the week that the competition starts now.
“The formation is going to be set in stone and there will be some games where we might have to change a little bit but we want to play our way and that's how we played tonight.
“We want to be on the front foot, win the ball back, recover well and play through the lines with pace. We're going to have difficult games between now and the World Cup but we can use this as a starting point.”
How about that for another impressive performance from Elliot Anderson?
According to Opta, in the last two games the Nottingham Forest man ranks first in the following metrics:
Impressive stuff.
Another man who got on the score sheet tonight, Harry Kane, has been speaking to ITV about the project under Thomas Tuchel as well as the 5-0 victory.
Here's what he had to say:
💬 “There's been a lot of noise on the outside around performing like that but we have been happy with what we are doing.
“It's never going to be easy against an opposition who sit in a block of 11, we have to break that down and be patient. Even the game a few days ago, even though we only won 2-0 we felt like we did a lot of things right.
“Today, against better opposition, better players we showed what we can do, especially without the ball. We made it difficult for them, we were electric in moments and won our one-v-one battles and took our chances well.”
Missed any of the goals tonight or want to know how Morgan Rogers went from a quiet first half to a stunning England performance?
Well, have no fear because we have you covered with The Briefing.
From tactical tweaks to bigger themes on Tuchel's England evolution, you can tuck into a freshly baked bit of analysis on the link below.
Enjoy!
GO FURTHER
Serbia 0 England 5: World Cup within sight as Tuchel’s team click
A great moment for Noni Madueke to get on the score sheet tonight and he spoke to ITV to explain what was going through his mind on his way to scoring England’s second:
💬 “I'm delighted for the team performance, for the win. It was a top performance today, I thank God that I was able to score the first goal.
“It was a great flick from Morgan and as soon as it broke for me, I had one thought. That was just to go as fast as I could go and I'm proud of myself with the finish. It was a good goal.
“It's a great feeling, something you work for and dream of when you're younger, so to see it all come to fruition is amazing.”
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Let’s hear more from the England boss, as he reflected on that huge win with ITV:
💬 “We had an excellent week, from start to finish. We just proved what I saw every day in this camp and it makes me very happy.
“We played with a lot of intensity, we put a lot of work in, and it was teamwork in its purest form. We showed our quality but we kept Serbia to no shots on target.
“We had a lot of chances but we put a lot of work into that, a lot of invisible work into winning duels or things you get no praise for. With a lot of support in all positions and a lot of effort, it was good to watch.”
Tonight is only the third time that two players whose surnames begin with the letter K have scored for England in the same match.
Harry Kane and Ezri Konsa tonight follow Ray Kennedy and Kevin Keegan against Luxembourg in March 1977 and Kane and Michael Keane against Montenegro in March 2019.
Thanks again to Opta for that statistic.
England goalscorer Marc Guehi spoke on ITV after the match and described his joy after recording his opening goal for his country. He said:
💬 “It's been great. It's always easy coming here. Such a good group of players and staff. We're working towards one goal. Really enjoyable.
“Just over the moon, just like Noni (Madueke) said.
“Fantastic feeling, you work really hard growing up so scoring for your country is the best feeling.”
Thomas Tuchel was understandably happy when chatting to ITV after that performance and he explained where England are in the process of evolving.
Here’s what he had to say:
💬 “Every game is different. We had a meeting in the beginning, we had our learnings in the first two games. We have had only three weeks of training together, that’s half a pre-season.
“We started fresh after the first two camps. We gave the players clarity in their role and structure that we are playing and from them. We gave them the responsibility to bring it to life.”
John Barnes got his first England goal at the Maracana.
Ezri Konsa, who played for Senrab as a kid, gets his first England goal at the Marakana. You couldn't write it!!!
Act: got in on.
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Marcus Rashford has now scored more goals for England than David Beckham (18 vs 17).
England are flying high in their qualification group. Here are the standings after that result:
And then there was one.
Serbia were the only other team in England’s World Cup qualifying group yet to concede a goal — until tonight.
What a performance by England to end the record of their nearest rivals in the group, while holding onto their own 100 per cent defensive record.
What a landmark performance from Morgan Rogers.
In Jude Bellingham’s absence in the No 10 position, that was an impressive performance to give Thomas Tuchel something to think about.
Rogers’ ability with his back to goal, turning and driving out of tight spaces or flicking the ball around the corner, was so important while England were pressing for goals in the first half.
A top performance.
According to our friends at Opta, Noni Madueke is the first player with all five vowels of the English language in his name to score for England since… Paul Gascoigne against Moldova in September 1997.
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Thomas Tuchel said this would be the best test to see if England are evolving under his leadership and what an emphatic response.
Some lovely fluid goals as well as well-worked set piece routines to break a stubborn Serbian defence down worked perfectly.
In order, we had five different scorers tonight:
That actually is full time now!
There is a bit of disagreement between the players on the pitch as they shake hands, mostly between Rogers and Pavlovic.
But that’s a convincing win for England and one worth celebrating.