England vs Latvia Preview

England will look to make it two wins in two games under Thomas Tuchel when they welcome Latvia to Wembley Stadium for their second 2026 World Cup Qualifier (WCQ) game.

The Three Lions began the Tuchel era in fine fashion, dispatching Albania 2-0 courtesy of goals from Harry Kane and the record-breaking Myles Lewis-Skelly, who became the youngest-ever player to score on his England debut. They make a swift return to the national stadium to face Latvia, the other side in their World Cup qualifying Group K, also on three points.

This game will be a landmark evening as it’s the first-ever meeting between the two nations, who sit an incredible 136 places apart in the World rankings. England look primed to mark the occasion with a victory, given they’ve not lost a home WCQ game since October 2000 (W26, D3).

An impressive 12 of the last 15 of those wins came with an accompanying clean sheet. History is on Tuchel’s side to do so again, as two of the last three England managers to oversee at least five games have won their opening two games with an accompanying clean sheet.

Meanwhile, Latvia opened their WCQ campaign with a 1-0 win over Andorra. However, they won’t be overestimating the size of the task ahead as that win was their first since last September when they beat lowly Faroe Islands.

Even making the task harder for the visitors is that never in history have they beaten a side currently ranked inside the top ten rankings (D2, L21) so they’ll have to become national heroes here if they’re to take the next step on the road to a first-ever World Cup finals appearance.

There are some positives for Latvia, who have won their last two WCQ games, but both came against sides ranked lower than 170. Both also came on the road, allowing them to win three WCQ away games in a row for the first time ever. Given Latvia are unbeaten in their last five such games (W2, D3) – their longest such run since becoming an independent nation – perhaps they shouldn’t be written off here.