England face DR Congo in the World Cup round of 16 on Wednesday evening, with a place in the quarter-finals at stake. Thomas Tuchel's side are among the tournament favourites, but the German coach had to make tough calls to trim his squad to 26 players. Three high-profile absentees are Cole Palmer, Harry Maguire and Phil Foden, all watching from home.
Cole Palmer: The biggest shock omission
Chelsea star Cole Palmer's exclusion was the most surprising. A year ago, he was a key player, but Tuchel opted for Jude Bellingham, Morgan Rogers and Eberechi Eze in the No.10 role, with Noni Madueke as Bukayo Saka's understudy on the right wing.
Tuchel explained: 'I think he suffers from a lack of individual form within his club. He was not as decisive or as influential as he was in the last seasons, throughout the whole season. Second of all, he was not very influential with us. His record with us was just not outstanding, not good enough to make him ‘no matter what, he is coming’. That is just the reality of it. He had to pull out injured several times, when he was in camp he did not have the impact that we all wanted to push him for.'
Tuchel added: 'I can find a lot of arguments to have him in the squad. I respect his quality and his very unique personality... But to have these moments you need also to be in shape, you need to be influential within this group and he has just failed to prove it, on a consistent level. It was one of the most difficult phone calls and obviously one of the most prominent names that we leave out, but I refuse to bring players for the name.'
Harry Maguire: Strong season but not enough
Harry Maguire enjoyed a strong campaign with Manchester United and earned a recall for March friendlies against Uruguay and Japan. However, Tuchel selected Marc Guehi, John Stones, Ezri Konsa, Dan Burn and Jarell Quansah as centre-backs, with Trevoh Chalobah called up ahead of him as a replacement for the injured Tino Livramento.
Maguire publicly voiced his disappointment on X in May: 'I was confident I could of played a major part this summer for my country after the season I’ve had. I’ve loved nothing more than putting that shirt on and representing my country over the years. I wish the players all the best this summer.' His family also reacted, with his wife posting: 'Beyond devastated for you. There was nothing else you could have possibly done to prove your worth.' His mother said she was 'absolutely disgusted', his brother called it a 'shamble', and his sister labelled it 'crazy'.
Tuchel responded: 'I was a bit surprised, but I respect his personality a lot. I respect his quality a lot. He had an outstanding season. I can see the disappointment... Still, I was a bit surprised, because we had a private conversation in which he had the chance to express his feelings, which he did. This is fair enough... but the decision is that we stood firmly with our central defenders that carried us through September, October, November.'
Phil Foden: Loss of form cost him
Phil Foden's drop-off in form for Manchester City in the second half of last season made his exclusion less surprising. The 26-year-old's last Premier League goal for City came in December, with only three assists since then. He has also often struggled to replicate his club form for England.
Tuchel said: 'With Phil it’s a little bit different because Phil was excellent in camp for us. He was not only excellent in training, but also off training. He was open, he was in good spirits. And it hurt me a lot, actually, to call him and to tell him this decision. I could see in his reaction how much it affects him, how much it would have meant for him to come. But I think, like with Cole and especially with Phil, he lost momentum in a crucial moment of the season and basically the last half of the season, we could see glimpses here and there but not a lot of evidence.'
