World Cup Qualifiers, Friday, 21.03.2025 at 20:45
The new England national team coach celebrates his debut! In our World Cup 2026 qualifying tips, we see Thomas Tuchel on the touchline for the first time. He is the clear favorite with his team. I can also find little room for surprise in my England Albania betting tip.
However, I have decided to bet on “Under 3.5 goals” anyway. In my analysis I will now tell you why this is the case. Of course, it has something to do with the fact that the Three Lions can defend strongly. But history also plays a small part in it.
Of course, the Albanian team will not travel to the tournament with the sole aim of congratulating England on their victory and merely standing in the trellis. The Red and Blacks also took part in the 2024 European Championship, and the top nations had to fight hard against them.
Can we once again rely on Harry Kane to decide the game in the end? Bayern’s star striker is of course always on the cards.
We could well be in for a game between David and Goliath, but it’s not unusual for the big teams to struggle at the start of a new international season. So will the favorites hold back on scoring?
The bookmakers’ forecast
Our bookmakers are not asking for a favorite. If we take a look at the odds together, we quickly realize that an England victory will only result in odds of 1.15.
Albania, on the other hand, will travel to Wembley Stadium as the clear underdogs. A 20.0 is not uncommon, as all six previous matches against England have been lost, so this should come as no surprise to anyone.
Accordingly, a draw is not necessarily to be expected. Here you can look forward to an average of 7.00. But: Albania at least played well at the last European Championship, drawing against Croatia and losing very narrowly to Italy and Spain!
Analysis: England vs Albania
“I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion. You can’t just sing it. That’s why I’ve decided I’m not going to sing it in my first games. I couldn’t be prouder to be on the touchline and be in charge of the England national team. “
Thomas Tuchel, England’s new national team coach, is proud of his new role. He gets started on Friday, facing Albania in the World Cup qualifiers. The kick-off will take place in the time-honored Wembley Stadium.
Marcus Rashford and Jordan Henderson return, while Myles Lewis-Skelly and Dan Burn are new to the squad. However, Tuchel will be without the injured Cole Palmer.
Odds Analysis
We don’t even need to aim for an outright home win this time. On the one hand, you can say: England will win to zero, after all, they only conceded one goal against Albania. The odds are just about worth it at 1.55.
On the other hand, a handicap is a realistic option. The “-1” also climbs to 1.55, if you go one step further, we already have a 2.40. Four of England’s six victories against Albania, perhaps importantly, were by exactly two goals.
How will Tuchel play?
No question, the squad that Tuchel has at his disposal is still really strong. The reigning European runners-up have hopefully come to terms with the fact that they also failed to win a title at Euro 2024.
The Three Lions have been playing defensive soccer for a number of years, but always fail just before the big goal. After losing the final against Spain, there wasn’t much time to dry their tears as the Nations League was calling:
England slipped up 2:1 against Greece, but otherwise kept their cool and won the other five games. However, Finland, Ireland and Greece were not big names in the tournament.
However, England competed in League B and achieved immediate promotion thanks to their results. The three goals they conceded all came in the second half, with the decisive second against Greece coming practically at the final whistle.
When will England tighten the reins?
Twelve of their 16 goals, also not uninteresting, came in the second half. In the last five games at the European Championship, the Three Lions have only scored once in the first half. So should you bet on them not scoring in the first half on Friday?
It doesn’t sound that far-fetched, as you can pick up odds of 2.75 for the corresponding bet at Betano. A 0:0 at half-time is also possible, here we would end up with 3.25.
But how much will the Albanians concede? After all, they didn’t do so badly at last year’s European Championship. After a 2-1 draw against Italy, they drew 2-2 with Croatia, while a 1-0 loss to Spain ultimately meant they were eliminated.
Nevertheless, these were results that showed that someone could definitely keep up. Things didn’t go quite as well a little later in the Nations League, but it wasn’t the stage of a major tournament either.
Two wins in total against Ukraine (2:1 and 1:2), Georgia (0:1 and 1:0) and the Czech Republic (0:2 and 0:0). The competition? They were a little better, leaving the Red and Blacks in last place.
Four goals were of course far too few, but I don’t really have any complaints about the six goals conceded. It’s almost exactly a year since Albania last conceded three goals in a match in the 3-0 defeat to Chile in a test.
My England Albania tip:
Will England have an easy game on Friday? Thomas Tuchel’s debut should of course go well, but the European runners-up will also have to find their feet after the long break.
Albania are an opponent who can be quite unpleasant to play against. The Red and Blacks tend to stand out defensively, and Italy, Spain and Croatia didn’t have an easy time of it at last year’s European Championship.
That’s why I’ve decided not to bet on a wild back-and-forth. Of course, the Three Lions are the clear favorites and I believe they can win with aplomb, but I’m ruling out a shootout. So my tip is:
The 3.5 goals will not be scored!
