Thomas Tuchel has been warned that selecting a “B-team for the World Cup should be a sackable offence” unless he guides England to glory this summer. The German tactician has named his 26-man squad for the World Cup in North America, with the nation’s campaign kicking off in under a month – and the former Chelsea manager has not shied away from making some bold decisions, leaving several high-profile names behind.
Ever since taking charge, Tuchel has shown a willingness to overlook established stars, which runs contrary to recent England selection tradition. For the World Cup, he has chosen to omit Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Adam Wharton. In their place, he has turned to the likes of Brentford’s Jordan Henderson and outgoing Manchester City centre-back John Stones, despite his limited playing time this season. Ivan Toney, now plying his trade in Saudi Arabia, is one of three strikers handed a call-up – yet the overall composition of the squad has left the German firmly in the firing line.
And Troy Deeney said in The Sun: “For a nation with A-star talent, we seem to be sending a B-team to the World Cup. Thomas Tuchel has got his principles all muddled up and has selected a squad that, if they do not come back with the trophy, should be a sackable offence.”
The former Watford frontman went on to say: “The calls to leave Trent, Cole Palmer and Phil Foden behind could look incredibly stupid in a couple of months. Everyone likes the idea of not picking based on names or egos, but that is an awful lot of quality to be left back home and, with this squad, I cannot see Tuchel taking England any further than Gareth Southgate did.”
At the last World Cup in 2022, the Three Lions were eliminated in the quarter-finals by France. Four years earlier in Russia, Southgate steered them to the last four, where they fell to Croatia. Since their solitary World Cup triumph in 1966, England have reached the semi-finals on just two occasions.
Tuchel is arguably the most successful manager to have taken charge of England since their historic victory on home soil in the 1960s. He has already put pen to paper on a deal to continue beyond the World Cup and made it abundantly clear that his squad was chosen with the collective in mind, meaning certain superior individuals may have been passed over.
The German said: “I think from day one we were very clear that we are trying to select and build the best possible team, which is not necessarily to select and collect the 26 most talented players.
“Teams win championships, it is as simple as that. What we are trying to achieve in the summer can only be achieved as a team. With that in mind, we chose a very balanced squad.”