The clock is ticking down to England’s World Cup opener against Croatia in Dallas on 17 June, and Thomas Tuchel’s pre-tournament experimentation must end here and now.
On Saturday, Tuchel fielded two completely separate teams for each half of a low-key friendly against New Zealand in Tampa’s searing heat. The result was a 1-0 win, Harry Kane the goalscorer again, but it was effectively a glorified training session – the first time since June 2004 that England have played 22 different players in a match.
“Tuchel’s experimental line-ups must end; Costa Rica friendly is the last chance to show World Cup hand.”
“To put it in context, a lot of our players last played together in November,” said Tuchel. “That’s half a year ago. We had four training sessions together, then mixed the team up completely.”
His recent selections have been far from a World Cup starting line-up. In Tampa he was without key Arsenal figures and certain starters Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka, who were afforded a rest after their Premier League title-winning exertions and the Champions League final loss to Paris St-Germain.
Tuchel has also taken experimental choices in earlier friendlies against Uruguay and Japan at Wembley in March, fielding Phil Foden up front against Japan, and Foden, James Garner and Dominic Solanke against Uruguay – none of whom made his World Cup squad. Ivan Toney came on for the second half in Tampa after a year in the England wilderness.
The squad’s build-up was also overshadowed by a shooting near their training ground, which left nine adults with non-life threatening injuries, local hospitals reported.
With the New Zealand game out of the way, Tuchel now faces his final test before the tournament: Wednesday’s friendly against Costa Rica in Orlando. That is where he has the chance to wheel out the big guns and reveal more of what he hopes will be his winning hand. After a long examination of the options, England must now get serious.