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Game On – Declan Rice sends it backwards to Dean Henderson to launch long and the match has begun.

A duet of elegant men with mics lead us in versions of the two anthems. Stylish.

Berat Djimsiti and Harry Kane walk out with their pennants. Kick-off in England’s last match of 2025 is about to start.

Played 7, won 7, conceded 0. Perfect record for the English side so far in qualifying. Outside of this qualifying group, they’ve now kept nine straight clean sheets in competitive fixtures – just two teams have achieved that in European football previously.

The Spanish national team are the only other side in UEFA qualifying yet to concede a score. For reference, the Liechtenstein team are the sole side still to score.

Squad News

Jude Bellingham is among 7 alterations to the English side that beat Serbia on Thursday. Adam Wharton makes his maiden full start in the middle of the park together with Bellingham and Declan Rice.

Henderson takes over from Pickford in goal, while Jarell Quansah makes his first cap at right-back, with Dan Burn alongside John Stones in the middle of the backline.

Eberechi Eze and Jarrod Bowen operate either side of Kane in attack. Scott could get his maiden cap off the bench.

Confirmed Starting XIs

Albanian National Team (Four-three-three): Strakosha; Hysaj, Ardit Ismajli, Djimsiti, Aliji; Laci, Asllani, Ylber Ramadani; Bajrami, Uzuni, Sokol Hoxha.

English National Team (4-3-3): Henderson; Quansah, Stones, Dan Burn, Festus O’Reilly; Declan Rice, Wharton, Bellingham; Bowen, Kane, Eberechi Eze.

Preamble

Well, you could call this a non-decisive game. England secured their spot at the upcoming global tournament a whole 30 days earlier. Albania themselves secured a spot in the March qualifying playoffs with a win against the Andorran side on Thursday.

But with the World Cup just seven months and a handful of matches away, there is no such thing as a meaningless fixture for the England players looking to convince Thomas Tuchel that they deserve a seat on his flight to the USA/Canada/Mexico. Even the likes of Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden can be sure of a place in the team until it is named in next May.

England have triumphed on all three of their previous trips to the Albanian capital, the most recent being a two-nil victory under Gareth Southgate on the path to securing qualification for the 2022 finals. It was the pandemic. Mount scored. Kalvin Phillips was in midfield. Jesse Lingard came off the bench. Those certainly were different times.

It’s a 5pm (Greenwich Mean Time) kick-off today at the national stadium. I’d love to receive your opinions on how the English team have performed in this year under the manager, how you expect them to fare at the World Cup and who you believe ought to – or ought not – be on that plane. Perspectives from Albania are also appreciated.