World Cup Qualifiers: England Scrape Past Andorra, Netherlands, Austria Open with Wins

England continued their World Cup qualifying campaign with an unconvincing 1-0 win over Andorra, courtesy of Harry Kane’s 72nd international goal. Despite the victory, the performance drew heavy criticism, with manager Thomas Tuchel acknowledging the lackluster display.

England supporters even booed the team off the pitch in Barcelona after failing to dominate the side ranked 173rd in the world.

Tuchel, though statistically impressive with three straight competitive wins without conceding, admitted,
“We completely lost the momentum… I didn’t like the attitude we ended the game with. It did not match the occasion.”

England now sit five points clear at the top of Group K, helped by Albania’s 0-0 draw with Serbia, where Albania’s Rey Manaj missed a crucial first-half stoppage-time penalty.

Elsewhere in Europe:

🇳🇱 Netherlands 2-0 Finland

• Memphis Depay opened the scoring in the 6th minute.
• Denzel Dumfries, bouncing back from a difficult Champions League final with Inter Milan, added a second in the 23rd.
• Netherlands climb to third in Group G, one point behind Finland and three behind idle leaders Poland.

🇦🇹 Austria 2-1 Romania

• Goals from Marcel Sabitzer and Michael Gregoritsch secured the win.
• Romania’s Florin Tănase grabbed a late header but couldn’t salvage a point.
• Austria join Romania and Cyprus on three points in Group H, trailing leaders Bosnia-Herzegovina, who beat San Marino 1-0 via Edin Džeko’s strike.

Group Summaries:

• Group K: England lead; Albania, Serbia trailing.
• Group G: Poland top; Netherlands off the mark with Finland and Lithuania in the mix.
• Group H: Bosnia perfect so far; Austria and Romania still in contention.

Though the matchdays saw a few routine wins, England’s tepid showing and Tuchel’s candid reaction were the headline stories of the day.