The European road to World Cup 2026 has officially been opened and with it, one of the tournament favourites has made a perfect start under its new coach.
Thomas Tuchel’s England have picked up six points from their first two games, scoring five goals and conceding none, and the new boss couldn’t ask for much more at this stage. While the CONMEBOL qualifiers are much of the way through, with the likes of Argentina and Brazil already looking forward to a trip to North America, these are early days for the Europeans. But, according to the SBOTOP World Cup 2026 betting odds the Three Lions are one of a handful of nations which has a serious chance of winning the famous trophy. And, since the last time England won anything was way back in 1966, if they can reach the top of the world then Tuchel will surely earn legendary status.
Their Group K campaign started with a little piece of history as Arsenal defender Myles Lewis-Skelly became the youngest player to score on debut for England, at the age of 18, as he opened England’s account against Albania last Friday. The goal was made by Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham, who beat his marker in midfield and sent a perfect pass onto Lewis-Skelly who slotted the ball home from the left side of the penalty area.
England’s all-time top scorer, Harry Kane, got in on the act to double the lead on 78 minutes, finishing calmly after taking a pass from Declan Rice.
There were all smiles at Wembley too on Monday night when Latvia were the visitors and the Three Lions went one further, winning 3-0. Chelsea skipper Reece James has been out of international action for over two years through injury and he marked his return with a brilliant free-kick to send England on their way. It was a moment of genius which opened up a determined Latvia defence, playing in a low block, and from then on it was plain sailing. Kane had been relatively quiet, but he notched his 71st international goal when he ghosted in at the back post to finish off a cross from Rice after good work from Morgan Rogers. And then Eberechi Eze squeezed home the third goal with 15 minutes left on the clock.
In other World Cup 2026 news Robert Lewandowski got Poland off to a winning start in Group G when he scored the only goal of the game against Lithuania. It wasn’t a hugely impressive result against a nation over a 100 places below in the FIFA World Rankings. With 17 shots to six and seven to two on target, the Poles were a dominant force, but they had to wait until the 81st minute for the Barcelona man to win the points.
Poland are the 35th ranked team in the world and anything other than a win, against the 142nd ranked Lithuanians, would have been a poor result…but the evergreen Lewi delivered.
In a group which also includes the Netherlands, currently in UEFA Nations League action, Poland really needed a good start and, in front of a crowd of 45,000 they doubled their points tally to six on Monday night, this time against Malta, another low-ranked team currently rated 168th by FIFA. Lewandowski didn’t trouble the scorers against Malta as Karol Swiderski scored a brace. The first came midway through the first half after a string of errors in the Malta defence and the second arrived just after half time thanks to an assist from Jakub Moder.
Now the Poles have a break until June when they will face a stiffer test, away to Finland in Helsinki.
Elsewhere, in Group I, Norway’s all-star attack got off to a flying start with a 5-0 win over Moldova as Manchester City’s Erling Haaland was one of five scorers. They won their last Nations League game against Kazakhstan by the same scoreline and the free-scoring Scandinavians wasted little time in setting about Moldova. Borussia Dortmund wingback Julian Ryerson scored the first with just five minutes on the clock; and Norway were out of sight by half time as goals from Haaland, Luton Town’s young forward Thelo Aasgaard, and Atletico Madrid’s Alexander Sorloth made it four, with Norway and Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard getting in on the act with the assist.
Toulouse midfielder Aron Donnum made it 5-0 as Norway, who missed Euro 2024 despite having such a richness of talent, stormed to the top of their group. Next in their sights is Israel, who they visit on Tuesday night.
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