Only two European countries can claim to have won all of their World Cup Qualifying matches without conceding a goal, and one of them does not even exist anymore.
By beating Albania 2-0 on November 16 thanks to a pair of second-half Harry Kane goals, England matched Yugoslavia's feat from over 70 years ago, rounding off a perfect preliminary campaign in which they won all eight games with a sensational eight clean sheets.
The victory in Tirana was not as straightforward as the scoreline might suggest, though, as for 70-odd minutes, Sylvinho's side frustrated a new-look Thomas Tuchel team, which struggled to click in attack with unfamiliar personnel.
However, the German's experiment was a necessary one, as it provided him with a fair assessment of almost every man at his disposal, and debates will soon rage over who should be a shoo-in for the 1966 champions at next year's global gathering.
Here, Sports Mole selects its possible England XI for their first game of the 2026 World Cup, for which the draw will take place on December 5.
ENG POSS WORLD CUP XI NOV 25
While Dean Henderson may now be showing off his shiny FA Cup winners' medal and recently helped Crystal Palace embark on their longest-ever unbeaten run, Jordan Pickford's status as England's undisputed number one should not come under any threat, save for a disastrous 2025-26 campaign with Everton.
Moving on from the days of Kyle Walker and Luke Shaw, Tuchel could face the best kind of dilemmas in the full-back areas, where Myles Lewis-Skelly, Lewis Hall, Tino Livramento, Djed Spence, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Nico O'Reilly and Reece James will all put their names in the hat.
Lewis-Skelly is currently being kept out of the Arsenal XI by Riccardo Calafiori, whose overlapping runs could suit new signing Eze far better than the English teenager, so his spot in the starting XI is certainly far from secure.
Should Lewis-Skelly fail to force Calafiori out of the Gunners' lineup on a regular basis, O'Reilly - now a regular for Manchester City - should be first in line, as Hall is still building his fitness back up following injury.
On the opposite side, James's next injury is seemingly always just around the corner, but the Tuchel favourite is already proving his worth to the Three Lions under his former Chelsea boss and is currently on course to start over Alexander-Arnold, who is yet to set the world alight at Real Madrid.
A fit Marc Guehi is a certainty in defence - the Crystal Palace captain could very well be a Liverpool player by the time the World Cup comes around - and owing to Harry Maguire's recent lack of football at Manchester United, a revived John Stones is better-placed to join Guehi at the time of writing.
Even a 70% Declan Rice would be one of the first names on the teamsheet, and as Elliot Anderson is now making waves in the England team, expect him to emerge as a serious contender to start alongside the Arsenal man - much to Adam Wharton's dismay.
A Rice-Anderson double pivot would allow Jude Bellingham to strut his stuff in the number 10 slot - even if Morgan Rogers is playing better for his national team right now - likely with Bukayo Saka and the rejuvenated Marcus Rashford either side of him as Eberechi Eze, Cole Palmer, Anthony Gordon and Phil Foden are restricted to the fringes.
Already boasting eight World Cup goals from the 2018 and 2022 editions, Harry Kane needs to strike three times in 2026 to become England's all-time leading scorer at the men's tournament, surpassing Gary Lineker in the process.
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