Having an abundance of choice in a football squad is usually viewed as a ‘good’ problem to have. And thus, when Thomas Tuchel announced his England squad for the 2026 World Cup, there was always going to be some big names left out.
Indeed, such is the talent pool in England that you could easily build a second squad capable of competing from the names Tuchel left out: Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Jarrod Bowen, Alex Scott, Lewis Hall and Morgan Gibbs-White are among the elite players not heading to North America. It is insane depth.
Tuchel is already receiving criticism
Yet, Tuchel is already facing criticism for his selections. There are strange ones, to be sure, including the inclusion of Jordan Henderson. A fine player in his day, but that ‘day’ was several years ago. It is, therefore, the case that a lot of fans are grumbling before a ball has been kicked. As it stands, England are third-favourites to win the trophy, given a price of 13/2 in DraftKings’ latest World Cup odds. It’s hard to argue that they don’t deserve to be considered contenders, but the pressure will be considerable, especially for Tuchel.
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Indeed, one would argue that England will need to build momentum quickly, taking the pressure of the manager and allowing the players to build a platform for success. Those players are used to achieving, of course, but international football brings a different type of pressure, and there is always a unique burden placed on England teams, especially from the traditional tabloid media. Plenty of England teams, especially in the 2000s, have let that pressure get to them.
Croatia could cause problems
One problem is that England have one of the toughest opening games of any of the contender nations. They face Croatia in Texas on the 17th June, and the highly experienced Croats are exactly the type of outfit you don’t want to come up against when needing an easy ride. After that, there’s also a tougher-than-it-looks game against Ghana, followed by another tough assignment against Panama.
Now, it would be a massive shock if England did not get out of the group, especially in this expanded World Cup, where it is designed to be gentler on the bigger teams and provide an escape route via a 3rd-place finish, yet fans will expect nothing less than a 1st-place finish before an assault on the knockout rounds.
Of course, you can argue that the reverse is true. If England stride through the group, vanquishing the tricky and wily Croatia in the process (banishing some of the demons of the 2018 World Cup), then that confidence will build. The media will stop speculating about what Tuchel has got wrong and instead discuss what he has got right, which could help achieve a sense of momentum.
In the simplest sense, then, fans will want England to hit the ground running. It will change the narrative, which hasn’t been great in the build-up. There’s a lot of focus going on negative areas, even away from Tuchel’s selections. For instance, some have worked out that England’s travel demands could end up being the most of any big team. And there’s always the age-old debate of the rigours of the Premier League season impacting the freshness of the players. Opening strongly is the key to silencing the naysayers and letting the England team build momentum, not pressure. We will soon find out.
