James OlleySep 9, 2025, 06:42 PM ET
BELGRADE, Serbia -- England's Thomas Tuchel era has finally lifted off. Tuesday's thumping 5-0 win against Serbia may be the fifth-consecutive competitive victory of Tuchel's reign, but it is the first that offered signs of genuine progress, suggesting the aim of winning next summer's World Cup may be a realistic ambition after all.
There is, of course, more work to do. The hosts showed surprisingly little attacking intent and, in any case, are ranked 32nd in the FIFA World Rankings.
But this trip to the notoriously hostile Rajko Mitić Stadium here in Belgrade was a potential banana skin for a hitherto unconvincing England side, which they sidestepped adeptly with an authoritative performance that validated Tuchel's prematch assertion that they are indeed evolving in the right way.
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The ultimate challenge for Tuchel is to make England play with a sense of purpose and authority when it matters most. It was just about the only thing his predecessor, Gareth Southgate, failed in as England fell agonisingly short of their 59-year wait for a major men's trophy.
That challenge obviously can only be tested next summer, but it must rank as a significant step forward that they produced their best display under the 52-year-old in their toughest fixture to date.
When taking the job, Tuchel suggested Southgate's England lacked a clear identity despite reaching the Euro 2024 final. Up until Tuesday, he had struggled to tackle that problem.
But here, finally, there were clear signs of England playing with a more dynamic style featuring players never capped under Southgate: Elliot Anderson provided the progressive passing at the base of midfield, Noni Madueke delivered penetration and purpose down the flanks, while Morgan Rogers was at the heart of England's best football, particularly in the opening 45 minutes. After Saturday's lackluster 2-0 win over Andorra, this was an emphatic response.
"It is exactly what we needed," said Tuchel. "I said yesterday that I had a feeling that this occasion would bring out the best in us and I feel that I had a point.
"I told the players -- I did not only tell you -- that we had a brilliant camp and I love what I see and I feel what I feel during camp on a daily basis. We had a bit of a stop-start game against Andorra, the result was not what everyone expected from us. I kept the belief, but at some point, you need to prove it.
"Also as a player, so it is not just words from the coach and they kept on doing it, they kept on believing. They felt themselves that this is the spirit we need in camp that will give us the extra level of quality. Today I saw a hardworking team. They never stopped pressing, defending, helping each other out and that's how it should be."
With Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and Cole Palmer among those absent through injury, England demonstrated a strength-in-depth and collective focus which overwhelmed their hosts once Harry Kane headed in his 65th international goal after 33 minutes. Madueke's lovely lifted finish two minutes later established control, which England extended after the break as center backs Ezri Konsa and Marc Guéhi scored their first international goals, either side of Nikola Milenkovic's 72nd-minute red card for hacking down Kane.
Substitute Ollie Watkins was fouled in the box by Strahinja Erakovic and Marcus Rashford scored the resulting penalty for his first England goal in more than two years.
This was a difficult atmosphere to extract three points from. Despite multiple warnings from the Serbian FA towards their own fans, home supporters engaged in Serbia-Kosovo chanting, and some called for manager Dragan Stojković to leave his post at the halftime whistle. Moments before that, Konsa reported having a green laser shone in his eyes and a stadium announcement followed.
It has been a chastening few days for Serbia. England landed here on Monday, the same day tens of thousands of took to Belgrade's streets to protest against President Aleksandar Vučić amid allegations of corruption. The country's basketball team suffered a shock round of 16 defeat to Finland at the EuroBasket championship, for which they were heavy favorites.
Even Serbia's tennis icon Novak Djokovic seems more human than ever after his semifinal exit at the US Open to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz. The combination led to a cantankerous feel inside the stadium, shorn of 15% capacity due to a UEFA punishment relating to past racist behavior.
Riot police moved in to deal with a brief disturbance within a section housing Serbian supporters, and in a separate incident, a man stood on a small temporary structure to goad England fans for several minutes before being detained. The night ended with Serbia's biggest-ever home defeat as Anderson advanced his case significantly as an answer to England's problem No. 6 position, and the togetherness displayed here established a strong baseline Tuchel can use as a reference point in the future.
"I think it was teamwork in its purest form," said Tuchel.
"We helped each other out, we had the right intensity. We put the work in to not allow one shot on target and they are a strong home team. If you want to do this, you need to support each other, play disciplined and keep the intensity up. This is what we did. Full credit to the team. I told you before, we had a brilliant week from start to finish and this was proof of that.
"We've only had three weeks of training and that's normally half a preseason. It takes time and in between there are weeks of pause. The players did excellent. The credit goes to them, they did amazing, that's the bar."
There was much made of the 240-meter tunnel the players must walk through from the changing room to the pitch before kick-off here, and the accompanying sense of foreboding. Yet England proved there can be light at the end of it.
