22 goals without losing a point this time, it's for real! Is England finally getting out of the military? North Korea and the U.S. WC passed the European qualifying round

Nov 17, 2025

22 goals without losing a point this time, it's for real! Is England finally getting out of the military? North Korea and the U.S. WC passed the European qualifying round
ReutersYonhap News



22 goals without losing a point this time, it's for real! Is England finally getting out of the military? North Korea and the U.S. WC passed the European qualifying round
EPAYonhap News
England, with Harry Kane's multi-goal lead, finished the 2026 North-China World Cup European qualifying round with a victory.

England beat Albania 2-0 in the final Group K match of the North-China World Cup European qualifying round at Arena Combertare in Tirana, Albania on the 17th (Korea time). With this victory, England finished the European qualifying round with eight wins in eight matches, 22 points and no goals lost.

England, which had previously widened its gap with second-place Albania (14 points) with seven wins out of seven (21 points), had already confirmed its advance to the finals regardless of the result of the match. Thomas Tuchel focused on experimentation and competition, replacing seven from his existing starting line-up. Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), who has not been able to appear in the England national team due to injury, has been included in the starting list for the first time in a long time.




22 goals without losing a point this time, it's for real! Is England finally getting out of the military? North Korea and the U.S. WC passed the European qualifying round
ReutersYonhap News
22 goals without losing a point this time, it's for real! Is England finally getting out of the military? North Korea and the U.S. WC passed the European qualifying round
APYonhap News
The first half was not satisfactory. They finished the first half 0-0 after being blocked by Albania's defense. Tuchel eventually made a change in the second half and was able to take the lead when Harry Kane scored the first goal in the 29th minute of the second half of Bukayo Saka's corner. Kane completed a multi-goal and team victory eight minutes later when Marcus Rashford (FC Barcelona) finished with a header. With the victory, England also succeeded in taking the honorable record of being the only team that did not lose a point among the teams that played more than seven games in the European qualifiers for the North-China World Cup.

England were in Group K along with Albania, Serbia, Latvia and Andorra in this qualifying round. Given that they are all one-up opponents, good performance was expected early on. As expected, England not only finished the qualifying round with a victory, but also finished their journey to the finals in a good mood, displaying a powerful performance in which they were all scoreless. Although Albania was caught by England, they maintained their final points of 14, beating Serbia (10 points) to advance to the playoffs as second place in Group K.

22 goals without losing a point this time, it's for real! Is England finally getting out of the military? North Korea and the U.S. WC passed the European qualifying round
ReutersYonhap News
22 goals without losing a point this time, it's for real! Is England finally getting out of the military? North Korea and the U.S. WC passed the European qualifying round
ReutersYonhap News
England will try to win the North Korea-China World Cup for the first time in 60 years since 1966. England, which had been in a long slump, advanced to the final for the second consecutive time at the 2020-2024 European Championships, but failed to reach the championship. The World Cup, including the semifinals of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia and the quarterfinals of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, was also blocked on every road to victory. In the end, when German coach Tuchel was appointed in October last year, he will challenge the North Korea-China World Cup as the third foreign national team leader since Sven-Yeran Eriksson and Fabio Capello. The first evaluation of the change seems to have been successfully completed, showing a powerful performance in the preliminary round. The BBC reported that England had an impressive World Cup qualifier thanks to Tuchel's tactical insight and timely replacement of players. England have suffered in recent major tournaments, and Tuchel's predecessor, Gareth Southgate, has been criticized for not implementing it at a time when changes were deemed necessary. Tuchel's proper change will be the core of this World Cup.





This article was translated by Naver AI translator.