✨ Read this insightful post from BBC Sport 📖
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📌 Main takeaway:
Along with Spain, England won all their qualifying matches without conceding a goal, and if both teams win their final matches of the season and keep a clean sheet, they will become the first European country to play at least six qualifying matches and win them all without conceding a goal.
The Three Lions scored 20 unanswered goals, but Tuchel said he had not spoken to his players about what record they could set, and his sole focus is to continue building towards the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
“I haven’t spoken a single word about it,” Tuchel said when asked if he was using this potential achievement as motivation ahead of England’s final qualifier.
“We need to lay the right foundation to have a chance to get these records.
“Just thinking about it or talking about it, nothing will change.
“We need to perform again. The feeling and confidence are absolutely there because I witnessed it in the camp. I have confidence in my players’ ability to perform again.”
The match against Albania is the last England will play this year and will mean there is only one international break before Tuchel announces his World Cup squad.
He wants his team to produce a performance that demonstrates the developments made since he officially took charge in January.
“In general, I just hope and feel the desire to win and achieve something greater than the fear of losing and the fear of losing the clean sheet record,” Tuchel said.
“These things just happen. We are very aware that we put in a lot of effort to defend as a team, and it is possible that we have a lot of clean sheets because we defend properly as a team, which is the case, but you also need a little bit of luck in certain moments.
“We must not focus too much on what we have to lose. We must be more excited about the next possibility to show our quality and play another exciting and intense match.”
Captain Harry Kane said remaining unbeaten without conceding a defeat provides extra motivation for the players.
“The last game in an England shirt for the year is always important to get a win for momentum,” he said.
“We also know that we have qualified and that Albania will qualify for the play-offs, but we have not conceded a goal yet, and I think that is a big motivation.
“Not conceding any goals during the season will be a special motivation.
“It’s also about getting to our level, and if we do that, we feel like we can beat any team in the world.”
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