It was the night when Thomas Tuchel located the ignition point for his England tenure, when all of the grumbling that had followed him to Belgrade seemed to float away. The head coach needed a result to allow his team to take control of this World Cup qualifying group – and a performance, too, after the flatness of much of what had gone before.
Tuchel got both. From the first whistle his players were a class apart, Serbia left to look dishevelled, their problems everywhere. It is a troubling moment for the country, anti‑government protests gaining in intensity and there were chants here against the ruling party. The head coach, Dragan Stojkovic, is under heavy fire and there was more heat for him. What for him after this?
Written by David Hytner at the Rajko Mitic Stadium
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/sep/09/serbia-england-world-cup-2026-qualifier-match-report under the title “Noni Madueke leads five-star England’s rout of Serbia with World Cup in sight”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
