England v Albania: World Cup 2026 qualifier – live
Key events
88 min: England stroke it around the back in the time-management style.
86 min: This has become very scrappy all of a sudden. A sense that both teams would declare right now if they could.
85 min: Some admin: Pajaziti and Hoxha have replaced Laci and Asani.
84 min: Gordon takes a quick free kick to release Bowen down the right. Bowen curls into the mixer, but Ajeti is alert to the grift and heads clear.
83 min: Rice is replaced by Henderson.
82 min: The keeper switch is finally made.
81 min: The stretcher is brought on. It’s refused. Strakosha doesn’t need it to depart, but his replacement Kastrati isn’t ready. Gloves not on yet.
79 min: Strakosha is down again. On come the physios.
GOAL! England 2-0 Albania (Kane 77)
Kane has done very little tonight, bar missing a couple of chances you’d expect him to put away. He’s not missing three, though. Rice dinks a cross in from the right. Kane brings it down with a gossamer touch, sending Ajeti off to the shops, before spinning and whipping a low shot across the keeper and into the bottom right. What a lovely finish.
76 min: Before the corner can be taken, Strakosha needs some treatment. England make a triple sub, replacing Jones, Foden and Rashford with Rogers, Gordon and Bowen. Then finally the corner, which leads to nowt. “Perhaps Tommy Toocool will turn out to be the next Sir Alf, after all,” dreams Justin Kavanagh. “Instead of Wingless Wonders we’ll get Flying Fullbacks with Myles Lewis-Skelly in the Alan Ball youngster man-of-the-match midfielder role in the final in New York. The VAR will break down due to a government closure in some department or other, giving England that dodgy deciding goal. And poor Greavsie Harry Kane, will be left on the bench from the quarter-finals onwards.”
74 min: Kane challenges Strakosha for a high ball. The keeper flaps. Ajeti looks to usher the ball out for a goal kick, but Kane cheekily nudges him in the back, causing contact that leads to a corner.
72 min: Broja beats Burn again, this time in the air. Asani nearly bursts clear down the middle. Konsa comes across to spare the blushes of Burn, who is suddenly all over the shop. Liverpool fans will wonder why this version didn’t turn up last Sunday.
70 min: Lewis-Skelly loops long from the left. Strakosha flaps under pressure from Bellingham, but the loose ball is blootered clear.
69 min: Broja already looks to have the beating of Burn. He spins the big man down the right, leaving him scrambling around on all fours, Bambi on stilts on ice. Broja looks for Asani in the middle with a low cross, but Walker senses the danger and intercepts cleverly. England in a spot of bother there for a couple of seconds.
68 min: In tonight’s other Group K game, Latvia have taken the lead in Andorra. Dario Sits with the 58th-minute opener.
66 min: Broja’s first act is to nearly get the better of Burn down the right flank. He enters the box but can’t get a shot away from a tight angle. Burn did just enough to stick to his man and put him off. Pickford claims.
65 min: Lewis-Skelly is going to be a star. He dribbles gracefully down the inside-left before slipping a pass forward to Bellingham, who can’t quite sort his feet out to return it.
64 min: The first change of the evening as Bajrami makes way for Broja.
63 min: Rashford turns on the jets to advance down the left, but this time runs slap-bang into Aliji. Rashford has been lively enough on his return to the fold, though.
61 min: Kane drops deep and sprays a diagonal pass towards Jones, racing into the box from the right. Jones cushions an instant cross towards Foden on the edge of the six-yard box. The ball rears up and hits Foden on the arm, so had he trapped, turned and scored, it surely wouldn’t have counted. As it is, the ball drops to Strakosha, who claims and makes the referee’s life a whole lot easier.
59 min: … then suddenly England burst into action. Rashford drives at Ajeti down the left but can’t get past. The ball breaks to Bellingham to his left. Bellingham dinks infield for Kane, who glances a header wide right. England’s best moment of the second half, and a second close-range chance of the evening passed up by Kane.
58 min: It’s all gone a bit shapeless.
56 min: Walker barges his way down the right and makes towards the box, but is penalised for skittling Asani en route. Not for the first time tonight, he considers telling it as he sees it to the officials, but reins himself in before any administrative damage is done.
54 min: England again with the possession.
52 min: Bajrami takes the ball away from the danger zone, and the many thousands of Albanian fans in Wembley are in raptures. By the sounds of it, they’re thoroughly enjoying themselves, despite the scoreline.
51 min: The ever-impressive Lewis-Skelly dribbles down the inside-left channel and purchases a cheap free kick. Everyone lines up on the edge of the Albanian box. Foden wedges the ball towards Konsa, but the defender can’t send it further goalwards.
49 min: Now Asllani’s down, Walker having accidentally stood on his hand. A painful start to the half for Albania.
48 min: To add insult to injury, Burn heads the resulting free kick away from danger. “Worked for many years at a very large cultural institution in central London which was a hotbed of left-wing agitators and fellow travellers,” begins Ian Burch. “One of them was a Millwall fan who through his contacts holidayed every year behind the Iron Curtain. While he was in Albania he was ‘accompanied’ to a football match in Tirana where the presence of the security services ensured an oppressive atmosphere at the game. He described it as just like being at the old Den.”
47 min: Burn high-kicks Uzuni in the face. Just a free kick out on the right touchline. That was a bit reckless, putting his opponent in danger, and Burn’s fortunate not to go into the book. A lot of blood coming out of poor Uzuni’s startled mouth.
England get the second half underway. No changes. Meanwhile Kimberley Thonger doesn’t appear to be particularly impressed with England under their new manager so far. “I can’t decide. Is Thomas Tuchel the new Ron Greenwood, Howard Wilkinson or Steve McClaren?” Too early to make that sort of comparison, surely, though if he’s caught in the hotel later tonight nursing a pint of Grape Drink and isn’t around for the Latvia game come Monday, we can widen the net and make some sort of definitive call.
Half-time entertainment. Curtis Jones was the first man on the scene to celebrate with Myles Lewis-Skelly tonight. So on that subject …
HALF TIME: England 1-0 Albania
It’s not exactly been a classic, which may explain why the referee blows for half-time on 44 minutes and 57 seconds.
44 min: Albania calm things down with a rare period of possession of their own. It ends with Asani larruping a wild shot miles over the bar from distance. Asani springs up and claims a corner, the ball seemingly flicking off the sock of Jones, but the referee’s not having it, and the Albania forward nearly talks himself into the book. He pipes down just in time.
42 min: One corner leads to another, and that man Burn does what that man Burn does, rising highest and planting a header goalwards. A combination of Strakosha and the crossbar denies England a second debut goal of the evening. Nothing comes of the third corner. We were so close to the completion of Dan Burn’s perfect week!
40 min: Walker gets clear down the right and cuts back from the byline. Bellingham flies in, looking to Keith Houchen home with a spectacular diving header from six yards. Strakosha sticks out a leg to block brilliantly. The ball rebounds to Kane, who slams goalward and prepares to celebrate, only for Djimisti to arrive from nowhere, extend a leg, and deflect over the bar. Kane puts his head in his hands. Denied!
39 min: Back at Wembley, England continue to boss possession. Albania continue to sit deep.
37 min: The game goes quiet. In lieu of meaningful action at Wembley, and having just clicked on that 2002 Berti Vogts-infused MBM, how about a game of On The Oche with David Narey? Ah the simpler, more innocent days of Guardian Unlimited Football. We made our own fun back then.
34 min: Bellingham enters the box down the left and tries to Lewis-Skelly the ball under Strakosha. The keeper smothers the attempted cute poke.
