Thomas Tuchel is set to make a shock decision and drop one of England’s key players for their 2026 World Cup opener against Croatia.
The World Cup is well underway now, with host nations Mexico and the USA off to winning starts, while Canada drew with Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday night.
The Three Lions begin their campaign on Wednesday in Dallas against the country that famously defeated them at the semi-final stage in 2018.
Tuchel has a number of selection headaches to deal with ahead of the big match, not least who to start on the right-wing with Bukayo Saka dealing with an Achilles issue.
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Another question mark is in defence. While Reece James and Nico O’Reilly are almost certainly the starting full-backs, the centre-back partnership is less clear.
It looked as if Marc Guehi would be locked into start, with either Ezri Konsa or John Stones alongside him, and Dan Burn and Jarell Quansah in reserve.
However, in a major shock, BBC Sport are reporting that Guehi is set to be benched, with the line-up expected to be nearly or the very same to the oneused in last week’s warm-up win over Costa Rica, which Konsa and Stones started.
Largely considered England’s best central defender, Guehi broke into the national team at Euro 2024 before winning back-to-back FA Cups with Crystal Palace and Manchester City.
But it is said Tuchel wants to have more physicality in his back-line, with the 25-year-old slightly smaller than his teammates.
It would seem a very strange decision however, especially given both Konsa and Stones are right-sided defenders and the manager has typically sought to have a balanced centre-back partnership, with Guehi and Burn the left-sided options.
If Stones does start ahead of Guehi, it will prove contentious as while the Man City veteran is one of England’s most experienced and successful defenders ever, he has endured an injury plagued season.