The latest round of ‘What? No [Player X]?!’ is upon us, as Herr Tuchel selects the first England squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers
Every two years, providing that the England men’s football team qualify for an international tournament, the great debate begins: who should be the next James Bond?
No, sorry, I mean: who should be the next Doctor Who?
No, again, sorry, I mean: who should be on the plane to [insert international tournament here]? It is a parlour game with no right or wrong answers, and places importance on the squad, which has been expanded from 23 to 26 players for no reason at all.
Thomas Tuchel will follow Gareth Southgate as the most loved/hated man in Britain according to how well England play across 90 minutes this spring and autumn. Oodles of newsprint will be wasted by those doing the most pointless job in England: writing about the national team. It’s pointless because any opinion counts, no matter how stupid or, indeed, racist. The USA has its many sporting franchises, and Australia has the cricket team, but really the England men’s team (not the women’s…yet) is the albatross around our neck.
Someone once wrote that, whereas Shakespeare, HRH, the NHS and the BBC are British, only the football team is separate from those of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. They know their place, but England has a nation of many millions who, in 2026, will mark the diamond jubilee of the 1966 FIFA World Cup victory on home turf. Only one of the starting XI remains, Sir Geoff Hurst, while as of the time of writing in March 2025 only two other squad members are still alive. Strangely, both are wingers: Ian Callaghan, who is 83 in April, won five First Division titles with Liverpool across 20 years, and Terry Paine, who played 808 games for Southampton and will turn 86 this month.
For this reason, the 2026 World Cup in North America and Mexico assumes plenty of importance. For the first time, a German coach will lead England (barring catastrophe) to a finals that will be overlong and overshadowed, as ever, by the nastiness of the host nation’s leader and the usual blitheness of football’s governing body (‘today I feel…Trumpian’). The English FA have appointed a career coach who won the Champions League with Chelsea and has managed in France (with Paris St-Germain) and Germany, where he took over from Jürgen Klopp at both Mainz and Dortmund, and took charge of Bayern Munich in 2023/24. Rather shockingly, Bayern did not win the league that season, which meant he was relieved of his post.
Tuchel brings with him an English coach in Anthony Barry, a Scouser who came through at Everton but was released as a young pro. He went on to play for such clubs as Accrington Stanley, Yeovil Town, Chester City, Fleetwood Town and Wrexham – all hail the football pyramid! – before starting a coaching career at Wigan Athletic and moving on to work first with Chelsea and then with the Republic of Ireland and Belgium. He is apparently known for his set-piece work, so expect the focus to be as much on Barry, corners and free-kicks as on Tuchel, tactics and open play; indeed, the 2018 World Cup saw England have a great deal of joy from dead-ball situations.
That tournament included plenty of players who are still under consideration for Herr Tuchel, and thus we turn to On The Plane. Bear in mind that injuries and form can play a huge part in who makes the cut, which is why Marcus Rashford will be nowhere near the squad, in spite of regaining first-team football with Aston Villa. Trent Alexander-Arnold was a 19-year-old one-cap wonder when he went to Russia in 2018, while first-choice goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and defender Harry Maguire had only played three and five times respectively going into a tournament in which they both shone.
There is every chance that an unknown player will have three good games for his club, impress the manager during a friendly in Spring 2026 and force the manager’s hand. As it stands, there are several players who are, so to speak, clutching their tickets. They include Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice in midfield, Cole Palmer and Bukayo Saka in the wide positions and Pickford, who has now played 73 games for his country. In 2025/26 he will play in goal for Everton in their new stadium, and with any luck he will face fewer shots per game under the management of David Moyes. His understudies will be two from Nick Pope, Aaron Ramsdale, James Trafford and Dean Henderson.
Into the centre-back positions and it seems likely that Marc Guéhi and John Stones will be picked, with Ezri Konsa building on his success at Aston Villa. Joe Gomez and Levi Colwill are other options, as is Brighton captain-leader-legend Lewis Dunk. Pickford’s Everton teammate Jarrad Branthwaite made his England debut just before EURO 2024 and was on standby for the tournament.
Other provisional squad members included Jarell Quansah of Liverpool and James Maddison of Spurs. It may be that Maddison is the type of player Tuchel wants in his squad, but he is blessed with playmakers, three of them from Manchester City alone: Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and James McAtee. In any case, Bellingham will start every game and potentially captain the side.
What to do about Harry Kane, England’s record scorer and the man brought to Bavaria by Tuchel in 2023? Dominic Solanke’s absence for this month’s games will ensure Ollie Watkins or possibly Noni Madueke starts one of the two games in rotation with Kane, or with each other. Had he scored any goals off the bench this season, Eddie Nketiah of Crystal Palace would join his team-mates Henderson, Guéhi, Tyrick Mitchell and Eberechi Eze in the squad; the injury to fellow striker Jean-Philippe Mateta gives Nketiah a decent run of games. Adam Wharton, who has missed much of the season through injury, and his replacement Will Hughes are also in with a shout.
With Bukayo Saka due to be making his way back from injury, Eze or Jarrod Bowen might have the opportunity to start on the right, with Palmer on the left or perhaps through the middle. Luke Shaw, whose body is too unreliable, might miss out in favour of Rico Lewis, who will be joined by any number of players who, alongside him, won the 2023 under-21 EURO tournament. They include: goalkeeper Trafford; defenders Branthwaite, Colwill and Taylor Harwood-Bellis; midfielders Harvey Elliott, Morgan Gibbs-White, Angel Gomes, Anthony Gordon and Curtis Jones; and strikers Palmer and Madueke.
Gareth Southgate famously started his time as England manager by informing Wayne Rooney that his international career was over, and professional England-watchers will be primed to go, ‘What, no [insert player here]?’ when they report on Tuchel’s first squad for the fixtures at Wembley against Albania and Latvia. Will any of Newcastle United’s Englishmen – Pope, Gordon, Harvey Barnes, Lewis Hall, Tino Livramento or Joe Willock – make the squad?
Will Manchester United’s horrendous league position relegate Kobbie Mainoo, who is looking to leave the club, to a squad player rather than a starter? Will Alexander-Arnold, Jones and Harvey Elliott mysteriously pull out of the games so as to help Liverpool more speedily pull level with United as they search for their 20th league title, which will delight (the win) or appal (the withdrawl) Ian Callaghan?
The one to watch for the starting place is Conor Gallagher, who played under Tuchel at Chelsea in 2022/23 and now plays in Spain for Atlético Madrid alongside Kieran Trippier who, aged 34 and having won over 50 international appearances, has made himself unavailable for the World Cup qualifiers. In the midfield, England will need a quarterback in front of the defence, a playmaker behind the striker and a sweeper-upper in the middle of the pitch.
Rice and Bellingham are the starters, with Mainoo, Gallagher, Jones and Gibbs-White ready as impact players. If Arsenal’s very young Max Dowman does a Rooney and comes through at 16, following the path to the first team that his fellow teenagers Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri have followed, then he might win a seat on the plane. You can call it the Theo Walcott role of Promising Young Talent. There might not be space for him anyway, as competition is intense.
Even though it doesn’t matter, and unlike Tuchel and Barry I am not being paid millions by the English FA to do this for a living, here is my squad of 26 for The Plane to Mexico and North America, with 11 players on standby to account for loss of form or injury.
Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope, Dean Henderson
Centre-Backs: Jarrad Branthwaite, Lewis Dunk, Joe Gomez, Marc Guéhi, Ezri Konsa, John Stones
Wide Midfielders: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jarrod Bowen, Lewis Hall, Rico Lewis, Tino Livramento, Bukayo Saka
Central Midfielders: Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, Conor Gallagher, Morgan Gibbs-White, Angel Gomes, Curtis Jones, Kobbie Mainoo, Declan Rice
Central Forwards: Harry Kane, Cole Palmer, Ollie Watkins
On Standby: Aaron Ramsdale, Levi Colwill, Jarell Quansah, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Anthony Gordon, James McAtee, Eberechi Eze, Jack Grealish, Harvey Elliott, Dominic Solanke, Nomi Madueke