THOMAS Tuchel has warned England must prepare to suffer in the heat of next summer’s World Cup.
And everyone is going to have to put up with the pain and boredom of watching them get there.
Against a tiny nation ranked 173 in the world, one of the supposed favourites for the 2026 tournament were heading for one of the most embarrassing results in their history.
Like England predecessors Steve McClaren and Fabio Capello in 2007 and 2008, Tuchel watched an England team reach half-time goalless in an away game against Andorra in Barcelona.
As in those previous matches, the Three Lions did enough to avoid humiliation. But only just.
After already scoring in qualifiers against the mighty Albania and Latvia, captain Harry Kane extended his record by poaching the 72nd goal of his international career early in the second half.
And Tuchel’s team seemed content to come away with the smallest margin of victory in seven meetings with a country that has only won 14 games since being recognised by Fifa in 1996.
If the 7,000 England fans who paid fortunes to come here – and those watching back home – felt short-changed, they should be under no illusions.
There will be plenty more of the same in the rest of this qualification campaign and again at next year’s World Cup – because Tuchel will surely steer the team through as Group K winners.
An expanded 48-nation tournament in 2026 means a greater number of lower quality teams who are likely to adopt the same (totally justified) approach as Andorra.
And not just in the group stage. With an extra knockout round, there will be more borefests of attack against defence which have to be endured by players and spectators alike.
All in the suffocating heat of summer in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
Despite Tuchel’s pre-match caution about expecting too much, the England boss cannot have been pleased with how his team performed.
Not with better opponents and hotter conditions awaiting them.
Tuchel lined England up in a formation that was basically 4-1-4-1, but with Liverpool’s Curtis Jones inverting from right back into midfield and Jude Bellingham sometimes finding himself alongside Kane in a 4-4-2.
Jones had a goalbound effort blocked as early as the sixth minute.
Andorra goalkeeper Iker Alvarez is the son of head coach Koldo, himself a former No1 who was beaten 16 times in his four games against England.
Alvarez Jnr was called into action by Noni Madueke, beating away the winger’s left-footed shot, and dad could be pretty happy with how his team was acquitting itself.
He would have been less pleased when Reece James found Chelsea team-mate Madueke and his cross fizzed through the Andorra box.
But Jones’s heavy touch and Kane’s poor shot wide let the minnows off the hook.
And that was it for decent chances as England failed to move the ball quickly enough to pull disciplined opponents out of shape.
A tedious 46 minutes ended to a chorus of boos from the England fans.
They were soon feeling a bit more chipper.
A fine pass by Jones allowed Kane to get off a shot that Alvarez saved, but Madueke collected the rebound and crossed for the captain to score from close range.
Would England push on and try to achieve the convincing victory that Andorra substitute Marc Vales told SunSport was the kind of result that you would expect between two such mismatched teams?
At the end of a long and tiring season – or not, in the case of those who must travel to the Club World Cup – that was always unlikely.
Substitute Eberechi Eze forced Alvarez into a good save with a header and Madueke, who always kept trying to make things happen, came close in stoppage time.
But there was little else to cheer for the travelling fans.
England remained one moment of madness away from arguably the worst result in their history. It almost arrived when Andorran sub Guillaume Lopez found space and had a shot blocked by Ezri Konsa.
All credit to Andorra, though, who also kept defending doggedly.
Victory for them was avoiding a heavy defeat. This was arguably their best day since beating Hungary in a World Cup qualifier in 2017. Maybe it was even better..
All you could say for England was that they at least managed to come away from a no-win situation with three points.
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