By the time the World Cup really gets going, and Thomas Tuchel’s senior players maybe have that extra bit of energy from this week off, England might well feel the benefit of this game.
It’s hard to make a substantial list of who else did, though.
Even Ben White, who marked his return with a poached goal, gave away the penalty from which Uruguay’s Federico Valverde equalised for a 1-1 draw.
There were very few England fans actually left by that point. Some of those that had stayed still greeted White’s goal with some boos, given the debate about his recall. Among that crowd, perhaps some of the children getting to enjoy a big occasion at Wembley benefited. Maybe Marcus Rashford, Djed Spence and Toni Livramento, who had some of the better performances in an otherwise disparate and disconnected team display.
The latter was inevitable given that it was the first time many of these players appeared together, and it made for one of those international friendlies that was occasionally difficult to keep concentrating on. The opposition didn’t even look like a Marcelo Bielsa team on the night, certainly nothing like the one remembered with such adulation by those Leeds United fans present.
There were already a lot of empty seats as early the 70th minute. It looked more than half empty by the time Valverde fired into the corner.
If Mikel Arteta was one of those trying to watch, he certainly won’t have enjoyed it, outside his right-back’s goal. Noni Madueke had to go off injured after 37 minutes – in what may well be the most consequential development of the night. Pep Guardiola would meanwhile have watched Phil Foden get scythed through by Ronald Aruajo, leaving the playmaker writhing in pain.
The only wrinkle there is that Foden is in one of those spells where he isn’t in the same form and consequently isn’t really in the Manchester City team. The fact he was in this team was almost warning enough, given the nature of it.
There would now be real questions over whether Foden will make Tuchel’s World Cup, except the manager has repeatedly made a point of saying he sees him as an alternative to Harry Kane.
As regards being a 10, though? That doesn’t look likely. Cole Palmer also came on to little effect.
Foden, along with some of the other players who have previously been England regulars, must have looked around and wondered what he was doing here.
Some of it had the appearance of a C team. There were quips about the side having two Tottenham Hotspur players, but that is a bit unfair on both Spence and Dominic Solanke.
The nature of the team is of course entirely deliberate, since Tuchel did come up with a creative solution to the problem of an exhausted squad and the need to experiment.
Hence we had this almost game-show style element, where these players were attempting to work together as a team, but were also competing with each other.
All of them were trying to show they should be staying around next week, when Tuchel replaces some of them with the senior players so they can get some fine-tuning in Tuesday’s friendly against Japan.
The problem was that the very nature of the team ensured it didn’t look like the right setting for that.
Tuchel will of course have a different perspective. There will be certain aspects he wants from individuals, and the actual test will be how well they executed specific demands.
Rashford pressed well. Maguire was assured, as Uruguay occasionally tried to play the ball in behind.
Perhaps the most pertinent question, however, is how many of these players you can actually see starting in the World Cup?
Livramento maybe. Maguire perhaps, depending how the defence develops. Tuchel did want to see him in a different style of back line, but this game just wasn’t enough of a test. When Uruguay did finally lift it at the end, though, Maguire was often there to clear.
There was otherwise so little football played.
England admittedly had a good spell at the start, with the odd flash. It maybe is quite indicative, however, that the game was marked by set-pieces.
This was the source of White’s goal, which also represented the third shot on target of the night.
None of this is to actually criticise Tuchel. He is right to rest his players.
There is something of an incongruity to how low the stakes were for this match, in the middle of an exhaustingly intense club season. That is surely why Arteta will be frustrated.
Tuchel was right to cater for that. He may want his best team to have some fine-tuning, but he also wants those players actually fit and fresh for the World Cup. A week off can genuinely make a huge difference.
As for this experiment of a match, it won’t exactly make much of an imprint on the memory.
