With Thomas Tuchel’s bid to put a second World Cup star on England’s jersey now in tatters, focus turns to the home Euros of 2028.
Can Tuchel’s England end their long barren run without a trophy on home soil? Daily Mail Sport examines the big questions facing the national game.
ARE WE GOOD ENOUGH?
No, frankly, we are not. Not at the moment anyway. Perhaps the biggest disappointment of England’s time at this World Cup is that the national team still doesn’t have an identifiable style of play good enough to hurt the really good opponents.
After Gareth Southgate’s attempts to build a team in the image of some of our rivals on the continent, Tuchel said he wanted to construct one in the style of a Premier League side but when it came to the big tests, that wasn’t apparent.
Had England held on against Argentina and faced Spain in the final, it could have been embarrassing. We have good players who will get better. Jude Bellingham, Elliot Anderson, Declan Rice, Djed Spence and Anthony Gordon should all improve between now and the next summer tournament. But in terms of our ability to dictate games when it matters and against the best sides, England have stagnated and it’s a worry.
Watching a rerun of the last half hour from Atlanta, Argentina trampled all over us and could have scored four. England had twelve percent possession between scoring their goal and the end of the game. That’s not what a good team does.
Thomas Tuchel has still not given this England team an identifiable style good enough to hurt good teams
Argentina trampled all over England to produce the comeback victory in Atlanta
IS IT A DNA PROBLEM?
That’s a cop-out from Tuchel and he shouldn’t have said it. History and culture don’t win football matches, players and coaches do. To win a tournament takes the right squad and a coach making the right decisions.
England’s World Cup squad was big on vibes and culture but, when it came down to it, low on technical and tactical smarts. This was an England squad that had Dan Burn, Jordan Henderson, Jarell Quansah and Trevoh Chalobah in it but no Cole Palmer, Phil Foden or Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Whoever you blame, there is something fundamentally wrong about that. When England needed it, we didn’t have the player to take control of a football game and dictate its direction and its rhythm.
Whatever happens between now and Euro 2028, we have to find a way to make our best players – our most technically gifted footballers – fundamental to how we play and what we do. Palmer would be in the Spain team so why isn’t he in ours?
CAN HARRY GO AGAIN?
So here we are. Back to the same old subject. Captain Kane had a fabulous tournament for England. Perhaps one of only three players – along with Bellingham and Anderson – to emerge from this World Cup with a mark of more than 6/10. But still England rely on him far too much.
Against Argentina, Kane laboured in the part of the game that really mattered. England needed someone up front to stretch the game. Every time we cleared the ball it came back again. But Tuchel kept Ollie Watkins and Marcus Rashford on the bench until it was too late.
The head coach doesn’t trust his Kane understudies and never has. Watkins played six minutes all tournament while Ivan Toney didn’t get a sniff until he was thrown on at the death against Argentina.
England have two years to find an answer to the problem. Kane will be almost 35 by then so the clock is ticking.
England still rely on Harry Kane far too much and Tuchel has two years to find the answer
WHERE IS THE HOPE?
English football is not short of emerging talent and, as we say, already has players in this World Cup squad with time to improve. Tuchel will hope for some real Arsenal game time for 16-year-old Max Dowman over the next season or so, for example.
Bellingham was only 17 when Gareth Southgate included him in his squad for the Euros of 2020 – delayed a year because of Covid – and he got limited minutes. But it was a vital part of Bellingham’s international education and that should be the path for Dowman now.
Elsewhere, Everton’s Tyler Dibling remains a huge prospect, despite a disappointing first season on Merseyside, while Rio Ngumoha of Liverpool should progress quickly now that Mo Salah is not standing in his way.
There is a worry at centre half. We need a ball carrier in that position. If anyone spots the next John Stones please shout.
ARE WE OVERREACTING?
No, we are not. Other European nations get it right so why can’t we? England came to America to win the World Cup and in terms of their football fell well short.
The statement from the FA that dropped after the whistle on Wednesday lamented the fact that it’s ‘heartbreaking to be so close’ but the truth is that the way England played was well short of the required standard.
England fell well short of their ultimate goal of winning their second-ever World Cup
English football continues to face challenges with the schedule and the stakeholders must look again at a winter break. Two of Tuchel’s most important players – title winners Rice and Bukayo Saka – arrived at this tournament broken by the domestic season with Arsenal. Frankly, they played like it.
English football keeps telling itself that it has turned a corner in terms of styles of play, technical aptitude and player welfare. But the problem is that if you keep turning corners you end up back in the same place.
