England head coach Thomas Tuchel has defended his decision to leave out several big names from England’s 26-man squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The former Chelsea head coach names his Three Lions’ team on Friday, which included several shocking decisions.
Tuchel dropped the likes of Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Harry Maguire, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Morgan Gibbs-White, Jarrod Bowen and Lewis Hall from the team.
“No, I don’t fear because I am very confident in the group that we chose of which we arrive with”, Tuchel admitted.
“Very difficult decisions, painful conversations. Difficult for the players, difficult to explain to the players. What we’re trying to achieve as a team and we try to nominate a balanced squad.
“If everyone is selected, it was a given that from these 55 players, we have to leave some extraordinary talents, some extraordinary personalities at home.
“Either way, if we picked all those names, some other big five names would have been out and we would be talking about these names. It comes with the job. I like these kinds of decisions, even if it sometimes took weeks and sometimes, months to clarify the decisions, he added.
Crystal Palace midfielder Adam Wharton also missed out, as well as the experienced Luke Shaw at left-back.
“I think they bring clarity. At the end, they bring a certain edge that is necessary”, Tuchel continued.
“Did they do anything wrong? No. Could they be in camp? Yes. 100% sure. But for some of them, it is just the amount of players in a certain position.
We didn’t want to play the players out of position so much and we wanted to give them a clear role and it comes with difficult and maybe hard choices in the build up to the tournament”, he concluded.
England will begin their campaign at the World Cup against Croatia on June 17, before games against Ghana and Panama on 23 and 27 respectively to complete group L action.
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