Harry Kane spared the blushing of England miserably when his second half strike sealed a matte 1-0 victory against Minnows Andorra in Saturday's world cup qualification in Barcelona.
The side of Thomas Tuchel was booed by England -fans in the RCDE stadium after he had trouble impressing a team that was arranged in the world 173rd.
The 72nd international goal of Kane ensured that England avoided the ultimate shame not to defeat such humble opposition.
Tuchel is the first manager of England to win his first three competitive matches without giving a goal.
But given the scarcity of the opposition of Andorra, Latvia and Albania in the qualifications of the group K, that performance sounds a bit hollow after this miserable display.
“I am not happy with the implementation. We completely lost the momentum and could not get it back. We ended up in a place that was not good enough in terms of urgency,” Tuchel said.
“We can just admit that it is not what we expect from ourselves. I was most concerned in the last 20 minutes because I did not like the attitude with which we had ended the game.
“I did not like the lack of urgency. It did not match the occasion. It is still a world cup qualification.”
“It is not someone who will remember many, and we had good spells, but we take the three points and continue,” said England, captain and goal scorer Harry Kane.
“We were probably not good enough on the ball, and it gave them some confidence and then the last five or 10 minutes, we have to stop them.
“We should definitely be better. June is never an easy camp and we have people who come in after long seasons.
“We have a friendship on Thursday, we can learn from again.
“The fans were great and they heard themselves, and we are disappointed that we could no longer score, but we will watch the next game.”
Tuchel had warned that the tired stars of England would not be expected from Andorra after debilitating domestic seasons.
The German mentioned the motivational difficulties of the International Break of the summer, just before nine of his players went to the club World Cup in the United States.
His fears were looking forward when England worked to establish a rhythm in a soporating competition with the feeling of a pre-season-friendly.
It was far removed from the pulsating drama produced by Spain and France in their recent semi -final of the Nations League, which underlines the task with which Tuchel is confronted while building the World Cup 2026.
Tuchel did not help the cause of England by placing an experimental side.
Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones started right-back and Chelsea Right-back Reece James appeared on the left.
With Declan Rice, Ajax -midfielder Jordan Henderson, 34, started his first England -start since 2023 and has been the oldest player of the Drie Leeuwen since Frank Lampard 11 years ago.
Arsenal -attacker Bukayo Saka was omitted after completing only one training session this week, so that Noni Madueke, Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer stand in line behind the striker Harry Kane.
Ideas
Chelsea -wing player Madueke was impressed, but Palmer and Rogers were overwhelming.
“We have not lost yet, we have not admitted (under Tuchel) yet,” said Man of the Match Madueke de BBC.
“Land for optimism. Today it was not as everyone had hoped in terms of the score, but we won the game.
“My job is to create and score goals. I was able to make one today, so I'm happy.”
Andorra had not scored an international goal for more than two years and they quickly settled in a defensive formation that allowed England to monopolize it.
Match Statsflash score
As Tuchel had predicted, England did not find it easy to open a massive Andorra defense with nine men behind the ball at all times.
Madueke's ride from the edge of the area was pushed away by Andorra keeper Iker Alvarez.
Kane should have broken the impasse with a chance of a short distance from Jones' cuts, but the captain of England -squat widely wide.
Given Tuchel's wish to see his player perform in the warm Catalan temperatures prior to the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada, it was instructive to see that England has trouble finding the energy and goal that is needed to make Andorra uncomfortable.
They moved the ball too slowly and were reduced to hopeful remote efforts, with Jude Bellingham's 25-year shot comfortably saved by Alvarez.
England looked robbed of ideas and the fans began to grumble.
Kane illuminated the confirmation pressure when the striker of Bayern Munich made the breakthrough five minutes after the interval.
After the first shot of Kane was saved, Madueke Alert led a low cross back in the six-year box for the captain of England to tap the empty net.
It was a modest way to reach a milestone for Kane, which has a remarkable 450 career goals for Club and Land in 697 competitions.
England still could not find a momentum and was almost punished in the final phase when the shot of Guillaume Lopez was blocked by Ezri Konsa.