England crush Serbia 5-0 for a statement win under Thomas Tuchel

Noni Madueke, Ezri Konsa and Marc Guehi all scored their first goals for England on Tuesday as the team beat Serbia 5-0 in a 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier for a win which could be a turning point in manager Thomas Tuchel's tenure.

Despite Tuchel's recent talk of being prepared to win ugly with long passing, this win was more about managing the match and shutting down Serbia, which had made England fight hard for a 1-0 win at Euro 2024. Harry Kane was crucial, finding space to score the opening goal with a header from Declan Rice's corner.

The captain cemented England's advantage late on with smart movement to get in behind the defense on a move that ended with a red card for Nikola Milenkovic, who denied a clear scoring chance by Kane. Guehi scored England's fourth from the resulting free kick.

"The energy has been higher and the level has been higher," Kane told BBC radio. "Serbia are a good team, and we made them look average tonight."

England are seven points clear at the top of Group K from Albania, which edged Latvia 1-0. A win and two draws in their last three group games would be enough for Tuchel's team to qualify for the World Cup.

Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford didn't have to make a save as Serbia didn't manage a shot on target. England had 12.

"We were very strong," Tuchel said. "I think it was teamwork in its purest form. We helped each other out, we had the right intensity in the right moments."