LONDON: England manager Thomas Tuchel has called on his team to deliver a statement performance as they prepare to face a physical and direct Serbian side in Tuesday’s World Cup qualifier in Belgrade, following an unimpressive 2-0 win over Andorra.
England struggled against the tiny principality ranked 170 places below them at Villa Park on Saturday, with Declan Rice’s header making the scoreline more respectable after an own goal by Christian Garcia Gonzalez.
Tuchel acknowledged that the Euro 2024 runners-up must step up against Serbia.
“We will try to prove a point — to win and put out the next performance, and to be tough in the circumstances,” Tuchel told reporters on Saturday.
“We expect a very emotional stadium, we expect an emotional crowd. We expect maybe, yeah, to adapt to the circumstances. We don’t know what the pitch looks like. Make no excuses.
“Then we come up against a very physical team. They will attack us in a man-man situation. This is what we see until now.
“They have high quality up front — international top quality up front — so they play very direct and we have to step up to this and adapt to the circumstances, adapt to the opponent and then prove the point that we’re a strong group, and we’re on the right way.”
Despite the unconvincing performance against Andorra, England remain in command of Group K of the World Cup qualifiers with 12 points from four matches as they chase qualification for next year’s finals.
Serbia are second with seven points from three matches. – REUTERS
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