{"id":171764,"date":"2025-11-13T20:42:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T20:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/england-vs-serbia-live-updates-world-cup-qualifier-latest-as-saka-fires-hosts-ahead-the-new-york-times\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T20:42:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T20:42:09","slug":"england-vs-serbia-live-updates-world-cup-qualifier-latest-as-saka-fires-hosts-ahead-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/england-vs-serbia-live-updates-world-cup-qualifier-latest-as-saka-fires-hosts-ahead-the-new-york-times\/","title":{"rendered":"England vs Serbia live updates: World Cup qualifier latest as Saka fires hosts ahead – The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

International Football
2026 World
Cup Countdown
live
Updated 2m ago<\/span>
England<\/a> lead 1-0 against Serbia<\/a> in their 2026 World Cup qualifier at Wembley Stadium.<\/strong>
Bukayo Saka<\/a> fired England ahead in the first half with a cool, side-footed volley after an earlier chance for Marcus Rashford<\/a>.
Nico O\u2019Reilly<\/a> saw his deflected cross hit the post later in the half.
Here\u2019s how the England players rated in that first half.
HT England 1-0 Serbia<\/strong>
That's the half-time whistle here and it's 1-0 to England. Pretty good performance against a good opponent in difficult conditions. They've moved the ball well and created chances.
I wonder when we might see Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham after the break.
HT England 1-0 Serbia<\/strong>
England's 100 per cent World Cup qualifying record looks set to continue here at Wembley.
They haven't quite been at their very best, but they have had far too much for Serbia to contend with.
Saka's goal is the difference at the halfway stage and that leaves Serbia with a mountain to climb as their hope of a World Cup place is vanishing before their eyes.
45+1' England 1-0 Serbia<\/strong>
There will be another three minutes of this first half and England could have entered stoppage time by doubling their lead.
Rashford, who has been a thorn in Serbia's side, threatened again and looked to be through on goal but for some dogged defending and his pass towards Rice was a little heavy.
Rogers then glanced a header just wide of the far post from a Reece James delivery into the penalty area.
43' England 1-0 Serbia<\/strong>
It's been pretty slow since the goal, with a few stoppages killing any rhythm, but Kane should have scored that header from Rice's corner. He got a completely free run on goal but headed it wide.
42' England 1-0 Serbia<\/strong>
England have desperately struggled to find a left-footed left-back in the last few years as Luke Shaw has battled with a string of injuries. So O'Reilly's rise to prominence at Manchester City has come at the perfect time for Tuchel.
He combined nicely with Rashford a moment ago and his eventual cross was deflected off the base of the Serbia upright. The resulting corner delivery was wicked from Rice and perfectly onto Kane's head \u2014 but the England captain headed it into the ground and wide of the target.
There are few better set-piece takers in world football right now than Rice, and that could be a huge asset for England next summer.
39' England 1-0 Serbia<\/strong>
He was able to get to his feet and walk off the pitch \u2014 albeit aided by the physios \u2014 but Ilic will not play any further part for Serbia this evening.
20-year-old Aleksandar Stankovic is on in his place for his third international cap. There can't be many better places in world football to play your third match for your country than Wembley.
36' England 1-0 Serbia<\/strong>
Anyone going down this evening will not be doing it for dramatic effort, such is the state of the rain-soaked pitch at Wembley.
Ivan Ilic looks in real bother on the edge of the Serbia penalty area after seemingly injuring his knee \u2014 the referee and Rashford immediately waved on the physios.
Although he has pretty quickly sat up, so hopefully that's not too serious.
Meanwhile, Saka has changed his boots \u2014 perhaps explaining his gesture to the sidelines a few minutes ago.
34' England 1-0 Serbia<\/strong>
The television pictures after the goal seemed to suggest that Saka had asked to be substituted, but he is still out there.
He definitely seemed to be limping after giving England the lead but he has been moving more freely in the last minute or so. It would be a real shame for him if he had to come off after that super finish.
I'm sure Mikel Arteta will be watching the rest of tonight's game through his fingers…
As I write that, Rashford gets the Wembley crowd off its feet with a very cheeky nutmeg but his progress is then halted in the penalty area.
32' England 1-0 Serbia<\/strong>
What a finish that is.
On a sopping wet evening, the level of technique needed to pull off a first-time volley as cleanly as that is stratospherically high.
But why didn't Rajkovic simply catch the Rice free kick under zero pressure?
31' England 1-0 Serbia<\/strong>
That's a really well-taken strike after O'Reilly's shot from distance was blocked in the box. England had Serbia pinned into their own area and eventually wore them down.
30' England 1-0 Serbia<\/strong>
Rice was stood over the free kick on the right-hand side and there was a palpable excitement that he would be able to recreate his Arsenal set-piece heroics.
Rajkovic punched his delivery clear but it only went as far as Nico O'Reilly 25 yards from goal. The Manchester City youngster aimed an effort towards the bottom corner but it was blocked and deflected into the path of Saka.
He was brilliantly watchful and cushioned a left-footed volley past Rajkovic and into the bottom corner.
A lovely finish, that one.
28' England 1-0 Serbia<\/strong>
A shot over the crossbar and one blocked, but Bukayo Saka is on the scoresheet after a lovely finish!
26' England 0-0 Serbia<\/strong>
Elliot Anderson has been England's best player so far, just as he has since he came into the team in September.
25' England 0-0 Serbia<\/strong>
Straight back into the action and that is the first time Predrag Rajkovic has been called into action.
A line-breaking run from Rice on the left-hand side preceded him laying the ball off for Rashford. The Barcelona loanee shifted the ball onto his right foot and went for his knuckleball-type technique but it was straight down the throat of the Serbia goalkeeper and he was able to save it very easily.
23' England 0-0 Serbia<\/strong>
Hmm. Jordan Pickford is on the floor just outside the penalty area and giving his left quad a good rub. The physios are straight on, but the England No. 1 is back to his feet immediately and looks absolutely fine to carry on.
Perhaps that was planned so that Tuchel could get a message on to his outfield players. Not sure Pickford will have been too happy about having to sit on the sodden pitch, to be honest…
Strange.
22' England 0-0 Serbia<\/strong>
That Saka chance seemed to wake the crowd up a little \u2014 which Tuchel will like \u2014 and now England are starting to get going.
Another swift move around the penalty area that Serbia simply cannot cope with found its way to Saka and he tried to squeeze the ball into Rogers, but some solid recovery defending denied the Aston Villa midfielder.
No goals and hardly any clear-cut chances for England so far, but they are playing some good stuff.
19' England 0-0 Serbia<\/strong>
And there's the first big chance for England. It's a lovely passage of play from the home side, with Kane swivelling just outside the penalty area and whipping a pass out to Saka on the right-hand side.
The Arsenal man worked a yard of space and jinked onto his left foot \u2014 as we have come to expect \u2014 but snatched at the chance a little and fired it a long way over the crossbar.
Frustration for Saka, but that was a very nice England move indeed.
16' England 0-0 Serbia<\/strong>
A quarter of an hour gone here and England are dominating possession. They're trying to get around Serbia's defence through the pace of Saka and Rashford on the wings.
The hosts are moving the ball pretty well but nothing has come off yet. England are also trying to press high with their front four plus Declan Rice. It's been ok so far but no big chances yet.<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

International Football2026 WorldCup CountdownliveUpdated 2m agoEngland lead 1-0 against Serbia in their 2026 World Cup qualifier at Wembley Stadium.Bukayo Saka fired England ahead in the first half with a cool, side-footed volley after an earlier chance for Marcus Rashford. Nico O\u2019Reilly saw his deflected cross hit the post later in the half. Here\u2019s how the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":171765,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-171764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}