Thomas Tuchel has always been a coach who likes to sleep on his team selections, making final decisions on the day of the game. But at this World Cup, he is leaving it later than ever.
I’m told he sat down with the players to inform them who was starting in the opening game against Croatia less than three hours before kick-off.
He spoke to them as the kit for the stadium was being loaded onto the team bus.
Tuchel’s reasoning is sound. Not only does it limit the number of tactical leaks that have been characteristic of England at major tournaments of the past, it also keeps the squad on their toes, and keeps them as one “brotherhood” of 26 right up until the final moment.
Not that the announcement should come as much of a surprise to the players. Each one of them has been allocated a role for this tournament as a “starter, specialist or finisher”. So the finishers would expect to be on the bench anyway, and the 14-15 starters that Tuchel has identified, would fancy their chances.
It’s also significant that Tuchel has stuck rigidly to a policy of having two players identified as competing for each position: Anthony Gordon and Marcus Rashford on the left wing, Jude Bellingham or Morgan Rogers at No 10, etc.
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Sol Campbell believes Thomas Tuchel chose John Stones to start against Croatia due to his experience, but thinks Marc Guehi will switch back to centre-back against Ghana.
When Tuchel was explaining his reasoning for calling up Trevoh Chalobah as a late replacement for Tino Livramento – a centre-back to replace a full-back – the coach’s thinking became clear for all to see.
Chalobah would be considered as a centre-back and not a full-back, he said, but as a result Jarrel Quansah’s categorisation in the squad would switch from centre-back to full-back.
With that in mind, it is a pretty simple decision for Tuchel when it comes to the quandary of who will start on the right wing against Ghana. It will either be Bukayo Saka or it will be Noni Madueke.
Bukayo Saka reacts during England’s 4-2 win over Croatia in the World Cup
Saka has trained with England – every day since Croatia, according to Ollie Watkins – but he is unlikely to start against Ghana in the second World Cup game.
Tuchel has said the third game against Panama on Saturday “is his moment”, and Saka has been following his own loading and management programme behind the scenes, as he nurses the Achilles injury which has dogged him for more than three months.
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With Declan Rice carrying a slight injury, Jamie Carragher believes Thomas Tuchel should not rest him against Ghana, and only do so if England are more than likely to secure top spot
That makes it very likely Madueke will keep his starting place on England’s right wing, especially after his impressive World Cup debut against Croatia. In Tuchel’s mind, if it’s not Saka, it is Madueke. Simple.
With that same logic in mind, we expect Bellingham to keep his place at No 10 against Ghana, with Rogers on the bench.
Eberechi Eze isn’t really in the conversation at the moment. And it is very unlikely Rogers will be considered as an alternative wide-left, despite him playing in that position often for Aston Villa. And that particular position is a hot potato for Tuchel anyway.
Morgan Rogers played regularly on both the left wing and at No 10 for Aston Villa in the Premier League in 2025/26
The word around the camp is that both Rashford and Gordon have been among England’s best trainers in the build up to this game in Boston.
Gordon got the nod ahead of Rashford for the World Cup opener but the Manchester United winger arguably impressed more with his 20-minute cameo from the bench against Croatia, when he scored his 19th international goal.
England’s Marcus Rashford celebrates scoring his side’s fourth goal against Croatia
We think the tight hamstring that worried Rashford at the end of that game has eased a bit. And so Tuchel’s decision between those two will be based not on fitness but on whether he thinks Rashford can have a bigger impact from the start or off the bench, when opposition defenders are tiring.
Let’s not forget, Gordon’s direct running does a great job in tiring out defenders, which Rashford could then exploit.
Tuchel’s other big decision is in defence.
Despite all the excitement of England’s exhilarating attacking play in the second half against Croatia, their defending in the first half was often woeful.
John Stones looked very rusty after so little football for Manchester City and the whole back four was culpable with some shoddy positional play.
Does Tuchel stick with Stones, Ezri Konsa, Reece James and Nico O’Reilly, to get them more comfortable playing together, or does he bring in Marc Guehi, who is hugely noticeable by his absence, and maybe Djed Spence to help counter the Ghana threat of Manchester City’s Antoine Semenyo on one flank and Leicester City’s Abdul Fatawu on the other?
Don’t expect many changes from the starting XI that beat Croatia 4-2. There will be wholesale changes for the final group game with Panama if England win this one.
But the two wingers are an interesting conundrum, as is the heart of England’s defence where it’s any two from three.
