England vs Latvia live: score, result, updates from World Cup qualifier

Nice bit of work from Latvia as they build out from a goal kick. They’ve realised that England are pressing mostly man to man, but are keeping a man spare in defence. So on their past two goal kicks, Latvia have used one of the midfielders to run across from the far side and give them an additional man to get through England’s pressure.

Will be interesting to see if England resolve this quickly. It’s not that much of a problem at the moment but you could imagine this being the sort of thing a manager may spot and try to exploit at the World Cup.

A few frustrated shots from range by England — Lewis-Skelly, Anderson and Gordon all had a pop. It’s difficult to get into the penalty area and create good chances against a team defending so deep and compact, but persisting with those moves like the offside chance Saka laid on for Kane, or the pass Gordon made to the striker, is the key.

Anthony Gordon laid on an excellent chance for Kane, squaring the ball from the left of the area, but the England captain struck wide. England’s start to this game is a world away from the reverse fixture which was a slow and steady affair. England now look like a team that understand where and when they should attack, the spaces to cover and the tempo of play.

Only a few minutes into the match but we can begin to see the plans from both teams. Latvia are defending in a 5-4-1 and when they win the ball they’re playing forward quite quickly to the wings and in behind the England full backs. Both John Stones and Ezri Konsa have had to do a spot of cleaning up loose balls.

England, meanwhile, have players high and wide on either side (sometimes the full backs, at other times the wingers) as they look to create a front five. Without the ball they’re pressing high, man-to-man, forcing Latvia into going long.

England have the ball in the net in the first minute, but it’s offside. Elliot Anderson plays a very smart chipped pass over the top which Bukayo Saka runs on to with a run from wide and squares for Harry Kane, who taps in. Saka was caught out by Latvia’s offside line, but that plan is a perfect encapsulation of how England will hope to attack.

It’s quite chilly here so I’ve just popped to the press room for a tea — sadly, no cups, just like (insert team name here)!

However, there was this very cool piece of equipment. It’s worth remembering that football is not the national sport here — it’s winter sports (and basketball, apparently, so says one local taxi driver).

It’s a very different atmosphere here in Riga compared to England’s most recent away match in Belgrade. When the Latvia team jogged on to the pitch to warm up they were greeted with a polite and warm applause.

The England players didn’t even get a whistle as they headed into the tunnel. Our Latvian hosts have been very hospitable, and as if to just prove the point they’ve popped some Oasis on, which the England supporters seem to be enjoying.

Another fact from Opta. Myles Lewis-Skelly will become the youngest defender (19 years, 18 days) to start five times for England, and is the fourth youngest player overall, behind Wayne Rooney (17y 352d), Michael Owen (18y 265d) and Jude Bellingham (18y 340d). The question for him is whether the majority of his future caps for England will be at left back or in midfield, the position which he played in through Arsenal’s academy.

On a side note, if you hear any loud blares at home, it’s nothing to worry about. There’s a set of train tracks that runs parallel to the far side of the stadium and I think the drivers are keen to express their support for the national team on match days.

Jordan Pickford is set to earn his 80th cap tonight. Since making his debut in 2017 he has developed and matured, something which he reflected on yesterday in his pre-match press conference, saying that he’s learnt how to be a calmer presence in goal.

“If there is a cross 16 yards out, don’t come and think you have to go and do it because you have not done anything for 15 minutes. That is something I have definitely learnt and there is a big improvement. When you are a young kid you are a bit more daft and want to come and get involved in everything, but the more games you play in the Premier League and with England, it is something you learn. When called upon, you have to be in that moment and I think I am very good at it.”

Here’s a couple of telling facts from our lovely friends at Opta. One, that England have made just two changes to their starting XI from their 3-0 win over Wales last week — their fewest between two games in the same international break (excluding major tournaments) since September 2022.

Two, that Morgan Rogers and Declan Rice are the third set of outfielders to feature in each of an England manager’s first eight games in charge this century, after James Milner and Joleon Lescott under Roy Hodgson and Paul Scholes, Michael Owen and David Beckham under Sven-Goran Eriksson.

It feels like Tuchel is getting closer to the side he wants in the World Cup. Rogers has established himself as one of Tuchel’s favourites. Paul Joyce wrote recently about Rogers’ positional discipline, which I found fascinating. Rogers starting means Cole Palmer, Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham will have a tough job at finding a starting position.

England anticipate that their opponents, ranked 137th in the world, will sit deep and defend. Against opponents who play like this, set pieces are particularly important. They’ve also been key to England getting opening goals in a number of recent matches, principally Serbia (5-0) and Wales (3-0), and then that lead to open the game up.

Back in March, when England beat Latvia 3-0 at Wembley, they required Reece James to score from a free kick before Kane and Eze got in on the act in the second half.

England tend to do their set-piece prep on the day of the game. One set-piece expert told me that they are massively undervalued by clubs and international teams, who tend to just do one set-piece session before a match. Just 15 minutes at the end of each day’s training can make a world of difference, they said.

England’s team is largely the same. Ezri Konsa moves over from right back to centre back, with Marc Guéhi dropping to the bench and Myles Lewis-Skelly coming in. He’ll likely play at left back, so Djed Spence will be on the right.

Thomas Tuchel has said he expects Latvia to play in either a 5-4-1 or 5-3-2, so it’s not much of a surprise to see Lewis-Skelly. He should offer an additional midfield presence as he tucks infield, which should allow Rice to get into the penalty area.

If Latvia are going to leave any spaces open, they will likely be out wide, so the onus is probably going to be on Anthony Gordon and Bukayo Saka to play aggressively and drive from the wings. Cast your mind back to England’s 2-0 win over Albania in March, when Tuchel criticised Marcus Rashford and Phil Foden for their lack of impetus from wide.

That game, the first of the Tuchel era, is also worth reflecting on. The team now looks very different. That side featured Pickford – Walker, Konsa, Burn, Lewis-Skelly – Jones, Rice – Foden, Bellingham, Rashford – Kane.

Just four outfield players have retained their position in the starting XI — Konsa, Lewis-Skelly, Rice and Kane. Right now it feels like there won’t be too much change between now and the summer (should England secure qualification), but lots can change in a few months.

Does anyone remember Brechin City? Rangers began their time outside of top-flight Scottish football there in 2012, with the ball famously getting stuck on top of the stadium’s outer foliage. It would take some doing to repeat that tonight, mind.

My colleague, Jonathan Northcroft, tells me he was last in Riga 25 years ago, when he watched Scotland play Latvia in a Euros qualifier.

He tells me that Latvia battered Scotland, who played with the former Leicester defender Matt Elliott up front. However, Craig Brown’s team won the match through an 88th-minute Neil McCann goal.

That game was also played at the Skonto stadium, which was the old home ground. However, we’re at the Daugava because of how easy it is for fans to get on to the field at that ground — back in 2017 a young boy interrupted a match with Portugal to get a photograph with Cristiano Ronaldo.

With apologies to Marc Aspland and Brad Ormesher for my photographic composition — here’s the view from the press box

England: Pickford, Spence, Stones, Konsa, Lewis-Skelly, Anderson, Rice, Saka, Rogers, Gordon, Kane.

Subs: Dean Henderson, Trafford, Guehi, Jordan Henderson, Eze, Rashford, Burn, Gibbs-White, Bowen, O’Reilly, Loftus-Cheek.

Meanwhile, from the England women’s camp, the Lionesses’ head coach, Sarina Wiegman, has seemingly contradicted Millie Bright by saying the defender had chosen to retire “off the back of the Euros” rather than on Monday, which was when Bright announced the decision.

England play Brazil at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester on October 25 and Australia at Pride Park in Derby on October 28.

• Kit Shepard: Confusion over Bright’s retirement as Wiegman names squad

Good evening from a cold, wet and windy Daugava Stadium in Riga. It’s a quirky ground, which you may notice has just three stands and no cover for the fans. There’s meant to be around 2,500 England fans attending here today, so I hope they’ve wrapped up warm and got their waterproofs.

A fun fact: to celebrate the country’s 90th anniversary of independence in 2008, a Guinness World Record was set for the most people running the 100m relay in 24 hours. That’s 3,807 people, if you were wondering.

If England do qualify they’ll join a group of 24 sides to have already made the cut — with none so far from Europe. The most surprising team in next year’s finals is undoubtedly Cape Verde, an island nation of less than 600,000 people with players based in the likes of Shamrock Rovers and Cyprus. Here’s Ian Hawkey’s feature.

Ian Hawkey: How Cape Verde reached first World Cup (and once they didn’t even try to qualify)

Thomas Tuchel has said he believes Marcus Rashford can be one of the best players in the world — but his “numbers don’t reach the potential” (Hamzah Khalique-Loonat writes).

Rashford has scored only one goal in five matches for Tuchel’s England, and has 18 goals in 65 caps.

“He can be one of the best in the world because of the quality I see in training, the finishing with both legs and with the head,” Tuchel said.

“He is explosive, he is fast, he is strong in the air, so where are the limits? There are no limits — but the numbers don’t reach the potential.

• Hamzah Khalique-Loonat: Tuchel challenges Rashford to do more

To qualify for the World Cup Thomas Tuchel merely needs to dispose of Latvia, who drew at home with Andorra on Saturday, and Tuchel’s talk since triumphing 5-0 in Serbia has focused on continuity. He believes he has found his England formula and now it’s largely about finessing it.

Continuity led him to leave Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Grealish out of the present squad and he will name just two more squads before choosing his group for the World Cup next summer. The clock is ticking for some big stars to play their way back into his plans.

• Jonathan Northcroft: Clock ticking for big names to be on plane next summer

Hello and welcome to The Times’ live coverage of England’s World Cup qualifier against Latvia. Thomas Tuchel’s side have won all five of their games in group K so far and a win tonight will guarantee qualification to the finals next year.

Stay with us for live news, updates and analysis from the game.

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