The Albany Gazette - Tuchel warns England to beware Serbia threat

Tuchel is hoping to end what will be a 60-year wait for a major men's international trophy for England at next year's finals in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

England came close to ending that barren run with back-to-back European Championship final defeats under the German's predecessor Gareth Southgate.

Tuchel's men made it four wins from four in Group K of qualifying with a 2-0 victory over Andorra at Villa Park on Saturday, but next face a much tougher assignment in Belgrade.

"It will be a good test and we're looking forward to it," said Tuchel.

"We feel that we are ready to step up to the atmosphere, to the physicality and it will be an emotional game, it will be a very important game in the group.

"We will be prepared for that."

England also faced Serbia at Euro 2024, winning their opening game of the tournament 1-0 through a Jude Bellingham header.

They currently lead second-placed Serbia by five points at the top of the group, although Dragan Stojkovic's side have a game in hand.

"It will be an emotional crowd, I guess," said former Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain coach Tuchel of playing in the Serbian capital.

"We have to adapt to the adversity, overcome adversity and then let's see what the pitch is like, let's see how the game plays out because you never know.

"You can have red cards, yellow cards, whatever, so we need to be ready for everything."

England laboured at times against Andorra, 174th in the world rankings, but are still yet to concede a goal in qualifying.

"I think we will face the same formation (as against Andorra), a defensive block of 5-4-1, individual quality up front with tall physical strikers," added Tuchel.

"We will prepare for the best version of our opponent and then we need to adapt to what is coming."

Capacity at the Rajko Mitic Stadium has been reduced by 15 percent after FIFA punished and fined Serbian football authorities for the behaviour of their supporters, including "discrimination and racist abuse" against Andorra in June.

In 2012, UEFA ordered Serbia Under-21s to play a match behind closed doors for "the improper conduct of its supporters, specifically racist behaviour" in a European Championship play-off against England in Krusevac.

(T.Brown--TAG)