Sports Mole previews Tuesday’s World Cup Qualifying – Europe clash between Latvia and England, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
The Daugava Stadium in Riga could be the site of England‘s World Cup 2026 qualification party on Tuesday, as the Three Lions take on Latvia in their sixth game in Group K.
Thomas Tuchel‘s men will guarantee a first-placed finish with victory against the 11 Wolves, who enter the scrap on a miserable six-game winless run.
Match preview
Tuchel has been racking up the qualifying wins since inheriting the England throne from Sir Gareth Southgate, but the former Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain boss ticked off another box on the national team checklist on Thursday, as he oversaw his first friendly triumph.
The less said about Tuchel’s first exhibition game against Senegal the better, but the Three Lions blew near neighbours Wales to smithereens inside just 20 minutes in midweek, as Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins and Bukayo Saka made the net bulge in a 3-0 cruise.
England could and probably should have crushed Craig Bellamy’s men by a bigger scoreline, but the Euro 2024 runners-up could be forgiven for conserving their energy in the second half, especially as Tuesday’s game might be the one to seal their obligatory World Cup spot.
Thanks to Serbia’s loss to Albania on Saturday, England will book their ticket to North America with a win in Riga, as the visitors are four points clear of Albania with a game in hand and eight better off than Serbia on the same number of matches.
Still yet to concede a goal in World Cup Qualifying, England are the only team in any of the five-nation UEFA groups with a perfect defensive record, so Latvia’s expectations ought to be low as they prepare to host the Three Lions for the very first time.
Yet to qualify for the World Cup Finals as an independent nation and only boasting one Euros appearance – a group-stage exit back in 2004 – the 11 Wolves’ wait for a ticket to the quadrennial global gathering will almost certainly continue.
Paolo Nicolato‘s men have just the one win to show from their opening six Group K games and like England struggled against Andorra on Saturday, but while the Three Lions at least got the job done vs. the minnows, Latvia could only claim a disappointing point.
Andorra had lost each of their first five matches in the section before heading to Riga, but the group’s basement side held Nicolato’s men to a creditable 2-2 draw, one that left fourth-placed Latvia six points adrift of the playoff spot with just two games remaining.
The hosts therefore need to win both of their remaining games, hope that Albania lose both of theirs and also make up the goal difference if they are to sneak into second place, but having claimed just one victory from 12 matches over the past 12 months, that series of events is fanciful.
To make matters worse for Latvia, they have been beaten in 14 successive games against top-10 nations by a staggering aggregate score of 41-1, and England ran out comfortable 3-0 victors when the sides clashed at Wembley seven months ago.
Latvia World Cup Qualifying – Europe form:
Latvia form (all competitions):
England World Cup Qualifying – Europe form:
England form (all competitions):
Team News
England captain Harry Kane was restricted to a watching brief against Wales, as Tuchel took no risks over his captain following an ankle injury, but the German said ahead of that win that he was “convinced” the striker would be ready for Tuesday.
The same cannot be said for Bayer Leverkusen defender Jarell Quansah, who has withdrawn from the squad as a precautionary measure due to an unspecified injury, but Tuchel otherwise has the same selection of talents available to him.
The visiting boss should not chop and change too much with qualification in touching distance, but Kane and Marcus Rashford – the latter potentially stepping in for Anthony Gordon – could freshen up the Three Lions attack in Riga.
As far as Latvia are concerned, Nicolato should have the same complement of players available to him from the Andorra draw, but key attacker Roberts Uldrikis and Aberdeen midfielder Kristers Tobers are missing due to injury.
The 11 Wolves boss bit the bullet at half time against Andorra, making no fewer than three changes at the break, and one of the players sacrificed was Atletico Madrid B attacker Dario Sits.
The 21-year-old is now at risk of dropping out for the vastly more experienced Janis Ikaunieks, who alongside Vladislavs Gutkovskis is the joint-highest active scorer in the hosts’ squad with 12 goals.
Latvia possible starting lineup:
Zviedris; Savalnieks, Balodis, Cernomordijs, Jurkovskis, Ciganiks; Zelenkovs, Varslavans; Ikaunieks; Gutkovskis, Sits
England possible starting lineup:
Pickford; Konsa, Guehi, Stones, Spence; Anderson, Rice; Saka, Rogers, Rashford; Kane
We say: Latvia 0-3 England
After being found wanting up front against Andorra, England have taken the handbrake off in their last two internationals and should wrap up first place without a fuss on Tuesday.
Latvia conceding twice to a historically poor Andorra side spells danger for the hosts, who will surely not prevent Tuchel’s men reaching the World Cup with two games to spare.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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