Perhaps Gareth Southgate got out at just the right time. This was meant to be the summer when an England team of abundant young talent fulfilled their promise on the greatest stage. But two-and-a-half months out from the 2026 World Cup, the number of England players who are in form, fully fit and genuinely good enough to win a World Cup can be counted on one finger.
Harry Kane will lead the team out against Japan at Wembley on Tuesday night, for what will be his 113th cap. But he will not be joined by Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham or John Stones. There will be no Adam Wharton or Noni Madueke, and Phil Foden would appear unlikely too. Injuries have taken their toll. A more cynical take is that this international break is being used more for a break than for internationals.
Thomas Tuchel did acknowledge that it was an odd look for 10 of Arsenal’s players to withdraw from international squads around the world this week, just before Mikel Arteta’s side embark on their treble bid. But he insisted he wasn’t upset with Rice or Saka, who have returned to their club.
“I understand the look of it,” Tuchel said, speaking at England’s temporary base at Tottenham Hotspur’s training centre on Monday. “I still have 100 per cent trust in the honesty of Bukayo and Declan. We did medical tests. I saw them. I have no reason to believe that Declan is not honest with me. I have no reason to believe Bukayo is not honest. But given the amount of Arsenal players, I understand the look.
“I heard there were camps [historically] where players did not even show up with boots and stuff like that, and then I understand it becomes like, ‘OK, are we being played here’ or whatever. But they both came, Bukayo did sessions in the gym to really try. Declan had a session together with Jude on the pitch, tried and said, ‘It doesn’t feel right’.
“Why would I push him? What would we win from that? Declan’s a key player, Bukayo’s a key player. Why would I take this risk? Of course, I want them in my team. Of course, I want them to play tomorrow. But this is not the moment to push.”
On the surface, perhaps it doesn’t matter. England are only playing Japan in a friendly. But if, like me, you have erased Friday’s draw with Uruguay from your mind on the grounds that it was a third-string line-up delivering unwatchable mulch, then this is really the only England match in a seven-month spell between the end of qualifying and Tuchel naming his 26-man squad.
There is another reason why the Japan game matters. England have not played a single top-10 nation since Tuchel took charge. Senegal, ranked 14th, are the best opponent Tuchel has faced, when England were soundly beaten. The overall record under the German manager is encouraging: played 11 games, won nine, drawn one and lost one. They won every World Cup qualifying match without conceding a goal. There was an excellent 5-0 win over Serbia. But we are still entitled to wonder: is this England side any good?
This is not the fault of Tuchel, who is at the behest of the fixture list he’s given. But he surely would have benefitted from facing stiffer opposition before launching into a World Cup. It is why this game against Japan, a tricky opponent who deploy wing-backs and are ranked 18th in the world by Fifa, is an important and worthwhile exercise, a final marker before the end of the club season and a rare chance for Tuchel’s plans to be tested.
And yet it will be difficult to gauge England’s true potential with so many key players absent. It points to one of the biggest challenges between now and the end of the season, one entirely out of Tuchel’s hands – the physical and psychological demands the players will face as they chase major trophies with their clubs or, in some cases, fight to avoid relegation.
“[Workload] is a threat. Not the biggest one, but it is a threat,” Tuchel said. “It’s just a fact, fatigue.” It is why the manager chose to give several key players a break over the past week. Elliot Anderson went on holiday to Marbella.
“The reception to it and feedback from it tells me we did the right thing and I’m still 100 per cent convinced we will get the benefit from it – now in the match against Japan and later. It tells me the way we built our campaign going into the World Cup is the right thing.”
England will travel to Florida for warm-up games in the two weeks before the World Cup starts, and Tuchel plans for the environment to be relaxed and low-key.
“It’s one training session per day but it’s open for family, friends and is more of a relaxed atmosphere. Players can go, can enjoy themselves and then we have the full focus when we arrive in Kansas [England’s World Cup training base].
“It seems so trivial but it’s so important that they enjoy their football, it’s so important that they enjoy their training and being together. It’s a lot on them (to be) on planes and buses and hotels and meeting rooms. And the end of the season for most of them does not come at the end of May – it comes hopefully in the middle of July – and it is a long one.”
His job increasingly appears to be less about winning football matches and more about managing the minds and bodies of his stars, so that they arrive for the first match against Croatia in one piece. But Tuchel has still never beaten a top-20 ranked nation as England manager. Tuesday night’s game represents a chance to do just that.
“We will not lose our head over these types of statistics but, yeah, teams like France and Spain have real quality and there is no doubt about how difficult it is to beat these types of teams. I think we are well prepared and on the right way. What is Japan in the world rankings? 19? So we will start tomorrow and try and beat them.”
