Sunday’s final 2026 World Cup qualifier has little riding on it, but both Albania and England will be aiming to finish the calendar year with victory in Tirana on Sunday.
England have already secured their place at next summer’s tournament, becoming the first European team to do so following their 5–0 demolition of Latvia last month. They have won all seven of their qualifiers under Thomas Tuchel, scoring 20 and conceding zero as they’ve swept their opponents aside.
Tuchel’s side are beginning to purr in the build up to the World Cup, the men’s team seeking their first piece of major silverware since lifting the golden trophy aloft in 1966. They will be among the favourites for the crown and will be eager to keep morale high by maintaining their perfect qualification record this weekend.
Albania also have nothing to play for when the Three Lions come to town having already clinched second place in Group K. England’s victory over Serbia on Thursday coupled with their triumph over Andorra secured a play-off place for Sylvinho’s side, who are chasing a first ever World Cup appearance.
There are one or two familiar faces for Premier League aficionados in the Albania squad on Sunday, with Burnley striker Armando Broja expected to feature in the forward line despite his early withdrawal against Andorra last time out. Ex-Brentford goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha will start between the sticks again.
A significant portion of Albania’s squad play their football in Italy, with Thursday’s sole goalscorer Kristjan Asllani on loan at Torino from Inter. He will start in midfield ahead of Lazio’s Elseid Hysaj and Atalanta’s Berat Djimsiti in the backline.
While Tuchel is unlikely to make wholesale changes to the team that beat Serbia on Thursday night, there will be still be several alterations. Having starred from the bench midweek, both Jude Bellingham and Eberechi Eze could come into the team to replace Morgan Rogers and Marcus Rashford respectively.
Reece James, whose minutes continue to be managed for club and country, could be rested, with Djed Spence the most obvious candidate to fill his shoes. The likes of Trevoh Chalobah and Jarell Quansah will be pushing to break up Ezri Konsa’s partnership with John Stones.
Bukayo Saka has played down injury fears following the win over Serbia in which he scored a superb volley. He should earn another start, as will captain and goalscoring machine Harry Kane.
Marc Guéhi, Anthony Gordon and Nick Pope have all withdrawn from international duty this month due to fitness issues.
Both sides are unlikely to be operating at optimum levels with the pressure removed from Sunday’s fixture, but England will still be significant favourites to clinch an eighth successive qualification win. Their defence has been excellent under Tuchel, with eight clean sheets from his nine games in charge.
Albania’s rearguard are pretty resilient, too, with six shutouts from their last eight outings. However, their backline will be put to the ultimate test by England’s array of dazzling forwards.
