Smooth baptism for Tuchel as England win back-to-back games

London — Thomas Tuchel’s baptism as England head coach could not have been smoother. Two games, two wins, five goals scored and none conceded represents a satisfying start for the German.

Monday’s 3-0 victory over Latvia at Wembley, like Friday’s 2-0 defeat of Albania, was far from perfect, but Tuchel already has credit for some wise decisions.

On Friday he gave a debut to Arsenal’s teenager Myles Lewis-Skelly and the 18-year-old repaid him with a goal.

On Monday, Tuchel made four changes to his line-up and one of them, Reece James, marked his first start since 2022 with a sublime free kick to open the scoring.

Winger Eberechi Eze also bagged his first England goal against Latvia after coming on as a substitute.

England already look well on course to win a modest Group K and take their place in the Fifa 2026 World Cup finals by which time it will be 60 years since their last trophy.

That will be the real test of Tuchel’s impact on England, but for now the German, who has coached Chelsea, Paris St Germain and Bayern Munich, appears to have taken to the international stage like a duck to water.

Asked for his impressions of his first camp, Tuchel praised his squad for making his life easy.

“Very happy because of the players mainly,” said Tuchel, the first England permanent manager to win his first two games in charge since Fabio Capello in 2008.

“They reminded me instantly why I was excited about the job. Top characters, a very good group. I think we had some excellent days on the pitch, but also off the pitch. Good energy and very positive atmosphere.”

Six points was the minimum requirement for England’s opening two games and while the opposition were not of the highest quality, Tuchel said they were useful tests.

“I think we need exactly these kind of matches, the tension of World Cup qualifiers and also the tension that not everything falls into place from the first minute,” he said.

“There’s still room to improve. But overall, we have two wins, two clean sheets. We did not allow anything, any good chances in two matches. So there’s a lot of positives.”

Tuchel handed another chance to Marcus Rashford who he brought back into the England squad and then started against Albania. The forward, on loan to Aston Villa from Manchester United, was disappointing against Albania but had more joy against Latvia, especially in the first half.

“Not everything fell into place, but the most important thing was that he showed this hunger and desire and the confidence in his abilities,” Tuchel said.

The German must now wait until June for his next England camp but he will head off having made a favourable impression with his players.

“Thomas Tuchel is fantastic, he has settled in straight away. He is a pleasure to work for, he has brought the passion,” captain Harry Kane, who took his England tally to a record-extending 71 goals on Monday, said of his former Bayern boss.

Reuters