The two teams are out on the pitch in Tirana. England’s players drone through God Save The Queen. Albania sing Hymni i Flamurit with a little more gusto.
England have won all four of their previous matches against Albania, with all four of those games coming in the qualifiers for the 1990 and 2002 World Cups. Albania have come on leaps and bounds since then though. They have the potential to make life difficult for England today.
Albania make five changes from their 1-0 win in Andorra. Their centre-back Kumbulla is missing after sustaining a knee injury. There are six changes to England from their dismissal of San Marino. Their captain Kane comes in.
SUBS: Sam Johnstone, Dean Henderson, Jude Bellingham, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Reece James, James Ward-Prowse, Jesse Lingard, Ben Chilwell, Tyrone Mings, Kieran Trippier, Ollie Watkins, Conor Coady.
ENGLAND (4-3-3): Nick Pope; Kyle Walker, John Stones, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw; Mason Mount, Kalvin Phillips, Declan Rice; Phil Foden, Harry Kane (c), Raheem Sterling.
SUBS: Ledian Memushaj, Erion Hoxhallari, Ylber Ramadani, Arlind Ajeti, Thomas Strakosha, Gentian Selmani, Rey Manaj, Klaus Gjasula, Florian Kamberi, Sherif Kallaku, Ermir Lenjani, Albi Doka.
ALBANIA (4-3-3): Etrit Berisha (c); Elseid Hysaj, Ardian Ismajli, Berat Djimsiti, Frederic Veseli; Qazim Laci, Keidi Bare, Hysen Memolla; Myrto Uzuni, Sokol Cikalleshi, Armando Broja.
England are also looking to make it two wins from two after comfortably seeing off San Marino 5-0 at Wembley a few days ago. Gareth Southgate’s side are still favourites to win here – England last lost away from home in a World Cup qualifier way back in 2009 to Ukraine – but this game is by no means a walkover.
It’s 20 days to the day since England last played away at Albania, winning 3-1 in Tirana in March 2001. Albania have grown in recent years though. Edoardo Reja’s team have won their last four consecutive matches and are looking to start their World Cup qualifying campaign with two wins after beating Andorra 1-0 last time out.
Hello! Welcome to our live text commentary of this 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA group I match between Albania and England at Air Albania Stadium, Tirana.
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