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Tom Hamilton
Multiple Authors
When Thomas Tuchel faced the England squad in his first team meeting as head coach back in March 2025, the challenge was unequivocal: get that second star on their shirt.
He was unashamedly ambitious in his opening address. Ever since then, it’s been about peaking in time for the 2026 tournament and ending England’s 60-year wait for a second World Cup crown. The squad he picked was not without controversy: no Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Morgan Gibbs-White or Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Some players were carrying knocks. Ivan Toney was the surprise pick after scoring a tonne of goals for Al Ahli. Tuchel said it was a squad prioritising the strength of the collective, a group who were “committed to the idea of team spirit and being unselfish.”
Since then England have travelled to the humidity of Florida, and scrapped past New Zealand 1-0 thanks to Harry Kane, once again.
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The Arsenal players were absent, but it was just another aspect for Tuchel to juggle, in a never-ending season where several of his players are absolutely shattered. Their final World Cup prep was more like it, as they swiped Costa Rica aside 3-0, after a delayed kick off due to thunderstorms.
So with the warmups done, and the squad assembled, what are the key issues facing England on the eve of the World Cup?
Juggling exhaustion and varying conditions
If you look at the outfield players with the most minutes this season in the Premier League, you have a handful of stalwarts like Virgil van Dijk, James Garner and Jarrod Bowen but interspersed with them are Morgan Rogers, Marc Guéhi, Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson.
To cut a long story short: England are carrying some exhausted players. Players from Arsenal, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace have been juggling league and European duties, while Guéhi is one of those several players who rarely gets a rest.
“Our players will be tired after a long season. That’s just how it is,” Tuchel said at the squad announcement. Since then, FIFPRO held a press conference where they outlined their fears over player burnout and cited players like Rice as someone who is playing far too many minutes.
They fear the quality of the competition will suffer as a result. Then add in the draining conditions. England’s match against New Zealand was played in Florida humidity. Their second was after a huge downpour. They’ve picked Team GB’s brains on how best to cope with high temperatures and acclimatise players before the tournament starts for them in Dallas.
Tuchel conceded before the squad flew out that “conditions [are] not to our advantage” but they’ve been planning for this, like last June, where during a warm weather training camp, Tuchel had his squad take capsules which measured the internal temperature of a player’s body and how quickly they were able to cool down.
“We’ve had help from Team GB and specialists all over the world to come up with solutions that help the players to adapt,” Tuchel said.
Fitness issues in general
Several players came into this World Cup with question marks over levels of fitness and availability. Reece James, Tino Livramento, Bukayo Saka and John Stones were all picked despite having a disrupted few months.
Livramento picked up a thigh injury in late April but managed 45 minutes off the bench against New Zealand, and was then unused against Costa Rica. James missed six weeks with a hamstring injury from March to May, but played for Chelsea towards the end of the season and got a half against New Zealand, and 63 minutes against Costa Rica.
Tuchel said Saka was carrying an Achilles knock from March through to the end of the season, so England needed to “take care” of him, but he came on in the second half in Orlando.
While for Stones, his match time for City in the second half of the season was limited to 84 minutes in the Premier League, and three FA Cup matches but he remains a strong Tuchel favourite. Stones started in both warmup matches and has pushed his claims to start in the opener against Croatia.
Tuchel’s challenge at centre-back is to fit three contenders into two spots: one of Stones, Ezri Konsa and Guéhi will miss out. None of their four situations are ideal, but just something for Tuchel to manage.
The remaining selection calls
You can safely pencil in eight starters for the opener against Croatia.
The spots with a touch of ambiguity are centre back, the left-wing, and who starts at the No. 10 position.
For who starts on the left side of England’s attack, it’s between Marcus Rashford and Anthony Gordon. Rashford started against New Zealand, Gordon took that spot for Costa Rica.
Judging who gets the nod against Croatia is tough, and both have a good number of fans in their camps. But at present, Gordon looks to be winning the race to start their opener.
As for No. 10, Bellingham was England’s standout player against Costa Rica. Just after New Zealand, Tuchel said of Bellingham: “He is one of the starters, he knows he is one of the starters, but we have 14 or 15 potential starters.”
Well, that performance against Costa Rica has done him the world of good there. “He buys into these ideas and he loves it and he did it on a high level,” Tuchel said after that win.
And at centre back? Don’t be surprised to see Stones and Guéhi partnered there.
