Thomas Tuchel has talked about this being a World Cup of big moments and now the first one has been and gone.
This is not the World Cup squad many people will have expected or picked. A 26-man party with no Trent Alexander-Arnold, Cole Palmer and Phil Foden would have been unthinkable when England travelled home from the European Championships as beaten finalists less than two years ago.
But to those who have followed Tuchel’s England through qualifying, this is a national coach sticking to patterns, beliefs and benchmarks he set out on the very first day in the role. Whether the football public agrees with him is another matter entirely.
Culture. Behaviour. Set pieces. Steadfastness. Athleticism. This is Tuchel’s version of England. He said it would be this way when he sat before us for the first time at Wembley in the autumn of 2024 and this World Cup squad is the manifestation of that.
It is a group that can go deep into the latter stages of this tournament – if not necessarily to win it – if form and fitness are kind. It is not a squad built to play expansive football simply because this isn’t the way Tuchel envisages this World Cup being won.
No, this is an England selection that points to clean sheets and durability and an ability to nick close games towards the end. If that sounds rather functional and even a little dull then that is the way it may have to be.
Thomas Tuchel remained steadfast to his beliefs and benchmarks when naming his England World Cup squad
Tuchel’s response to Ivan Toney’s selection revealed much about his blueprint for World Cup success
Tuchel leaving Phil Foden and Cole Palmer at home shows this England team will be more Premier League pace and power than European culture
Talking about his decision to call up centre forward Ivan Toney, Tuchel said: ‘We started talking more deeply about the team and started talking different scenarios and what would be the most offensive line-up if we are 1-0 down with 15 minutes to play and in ten minutes plus extra time we need a goal.
‘We are pushing. We are around the box. Balls are flying into the box. What are scenarios?
‘Would he be a player you would like the ball to fall down to if there is a ricochet in the box? Yes. Absolutely.
‘We try to build a strong set-piece squad. He can have his role there, defensively and offensively, and of course he is a world-class penalty taker’
There, in a handful of paragraphs, is Tuchel’s route map to World Cup success. There will be other ways available, of course. Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka showed us that with big goals against Slovakia and Switzerland in Germany two summers ago.
But the safe breakers are being left at home. Foden, Palmer. This England team will be more Premier League pace and power than European culture.
It will need some very big performances from its spine if it is to get anywhere near to its goal. Jordan Pickford in goal, Declan Rice and Elliott Anderson ahead of the back four and, of course, captain Harry Kane.
This England squad will need very big performances from its spine to get near to its goal
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Beyond that Tuchel will ask for impacts. If they win their group – which is not a given with Croatia first up in Dallas – England’s schedule will be onerous. Four games in twelve days if England are to reach the last eight. England will not have been asked questions like that at a summer tournament for a long time.
This plays to Tuchel’s obsession with squad harmony once again and it’s understandable. His predecessor Gareth Southgate built that and Tuchel would have been a fool not to cherish and seek to embellish it.
Even so, why a squad with senior players mentioned above in it needs Dan Burn and Jordan Henderson to look after the atmosphere is baffling. When Tuchel said he hasn’t chosen his best players, he was right.
He sees this World Cup not as a festival but as a long attritional war. If this selection transpires to be wrong, bullets with his name on them with follow him home.
