Jamie Carragher expects Thomas Tuchel to make a controversial selection decision in England’s opening World Cup game, leaving out a star name. The Three Lions begin their campaign on June 17 against Croatia, followed by matches against Ghana and Panama in Group L.
England have a final warm-up match on Wednesday night against Costa Rica in Orlando, Florida. Much of the starting XI against Croatia is clear, with Jordan Pickford, Reece James, Marc Guehi, Nico O’Reilly, Declan Rice, Elliot Anderson, Bukayo Saka and Harry Kane all certain to play.
Number 10 Position Under Scrutiny
One position that remains uncertain is the number 10 role, with Morgan Rogers and Jude Bellingham vying to start behind Harry Kane. Bellingham, a superstar name and regular at Real Madrid, faces competition from Aston Villa’s Rogers, who has impressed Tuchel. The German manager has shown he is not necessarily a huge supporter of Bellingham, having left him out of an international camp in October.
It would be a huge call to leave Bellingham out against Croatia, but Carragher believes that is what will happen. ‘I think Tuchel is strong enough, I think he’s shown already with how he’s dealt with Jude,’ Carragher said on The Overlap. ‘He’s left him out of a couple of squads, there’s been things said. There’s a relationship to be worked on from both parties there. I don’t see a situation, unless Morgan Rogers gets injured in the warm-up games, where Jude Bellingham starts the first game. I think it’s Morgan Rogers.’
Tuchel’s View on Bellingham
Tuchel has made it clear that Bellingham is not guaranteed a starting spot, though he considers him one of 14-15 potential starters. ‘He is one of the starters, he knows he is one of the starters, but we have 14 or 15 potential starters,’ said the manager. ‘These roles can always change, but at the moment I think there are 14 or 15 proper starters and Jude is one of them.’
The 22-year-old came on at half-time in the friendly win over New Zealand on Saturday and wore the captain’s armband. Tuchel praised him after the match: ‘You can see Jude has for sure the decisiveness and bite. This is his key characteristic, but you can see that he comes from an injury and is full of energy and happy to be back on the pitch. He had his break, unfortunately, in a decisive part of the season, the Champions League season and campaign for the championship in Spain, so this was very unfortunate for Real Madrid and for him personally. But you can see now that he is actually in a sweet spot. He comes back, he’s fresh, he wants to play and he’s in top shape.’
Carragher’s Concerns for England
Whoever starts next week, Carragher does not see England as likely World Cup winners, feeling underwhelmed by the squad Tuchel has taken. ‘I do have a little nagging fear, I think Gareth Southgate is going to be a lot more appreciated in the next 5-10 years,’ said the Liverpool legend. ‘I was a massive Southgate fan in terms of what he did with England. With this tournament, I think England will find it tough. I look at the squad that’s been picked. There’s a lot of good players in there, but I class a lot of them as good Premier League players, I don’t look at all of them and think “there’s an international player there.” I’d say I’m not the most optimistic, right now.’
