Tuchel celebrates ´special moment´ as England seal World Cup spot

England have accomplished their “dream” by securing World Cup qualification, as Thomas Tuchel celebrated a “special moment”.

England hammered Latvia 5-0 on Tuesday, extending their winning run in this qualifying cycle to six matches. They have yet to concede a competitive goal under Tuchel.

Victory in Riga was enough to send the Three Lions to next year’s tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Harry Kane netted a double, with Anthony Gordon and Eberechi Eze also adding to the scoresheet, alongside a Maksims Tonisevs own goal.

A big summer awaits the #ThreeLions in 2026. pic.twitter.com/EgWT6b08hT

— England (@England) October 14, 2025

Tuchel initially received some criticism after an underwhelming start to his tenure, capped off by a 3-1 friendly defeat to Senegal in June, but have now netted 14 goals across their last four outings.

England have qualified for eight successive World Cups, and Tuchel believes the manner in which the Three Lions have achieved it this time around is cause for much optimism.

“We had six matches, and we won all six and we didn’t concede a goal,” he told reporters.

“It’s a special moment. We stepped up in the last two camps.”

Speaking to ITV Sport, Tuchel added: “Brilliant, brilliant… such a good mood in the dressing room.

“It feels very different because this is our dream to go to the World Cup and we made it.

“We are dominant in games, we are hungry. We have a lot of ball wins in the opponent’s half. It is good. We are on our way.

“The guys train on a high level and the group is a very good group, it is a pleasure to coach them. Step by step, we are getting there.”

8 – England have now qualified for eight successive FIFA World Cup tournaments (since 1998), extending their longest ever run. Plane. pic.twitter.com/FEWIF5Q6Pb

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 14, 2025

With qualification wrapped up, the pressure is off England when they face Serbia and Albania in November.

However, Tuchel hinted that he will not experiment too much in his squad selection for those games.

“Now we know we’re qualified, I’m not sure if this changes anything in the nomination process,” he said.

“Now is the moment to enjoy it, you can feel it in the dressing room. It’s a very special moment and it’s not a daily thing that we qualify for the World Cup.

“[Kane] just gave a speech where he said everyone will be ready to keep this going in November and no one will take this for granted.

“Maybe it will give us the chance to try stuff, but we will stay competitive and we want to win both matches. We owe it to ourselves and owe it to our fans. We need to keep going and what we are building is very precious.”