Eagle-eyed England fans spotted a major error with the Three Lions’ kit during Friday’s World Cup qualifier against Albania. England kicked their qualification campaign off in perfect style, with goals from Myles Lewis-Skelly and Harry Kane doing the business for Thomas Tuchel during the German’s first match in charge.
There was a feel-good factor back in Wembley, with Tuchel’s arrival in the dugout bringing about a renewed sense of optimism. England will be expected to qualify with ease from a group containing Serbia, Andorra, Latvia and the recently defeated Albania.
While their performance was solid enough during the Friday clash, it was on the players’ shirts where the biggest mistake appeared to come from, with the front numbers having been printed in the wrong position. Usually, numbers on the front of international shirts are usually placed dead centre in the middle of the jersey.
However, as pointed out by several social media users, the numbers for the Albania match were in the unusual spot just below the Nike tick. And such was the attention it garnered online, the official England kit-man came out and explained why the change had taken place.
Responding on X, @KitmanPat said: “Printed the 1st shirt and put them in wrong place so then had to do them in all in same place,back to the usual spot on Monday…..but well done for noticing.”
It’s back to Wembley for England’s second World Cup qualifier, with Latvia the visitors on Monday evening. Reacting to his side’s victory on Friday, Tuchel urged for more. He told ITV: “We can do better, we have to do better. We started well, we had seven or eight minutes with 100% ball possession with a lot of passes and high energy.
“The opponent is hard to break down as they defend in a deep block. In the Euros [last year] they managed to not concede chances. Second half, I felt we were too slow and in general not enough runs off the ball to get behind the line.”
He added: “We lacked a bit of runs off the ball, so it was a bit too much passing and not enough dribbling. Not aggressive enough towards goal. They were very good in the last weeks in their clubs. We will keep encouraging them and give them a structure so they can show their potential.”
Kick-off at Wembley on Monday is pencilled in for 7:45pm.
