England XIs for World Cup opening games ranked: Golden Generation top | OneFootball

While Thomas Tuchel ponders his selection for England’s opener, we’ve gone back through the XIs that kicked off previous World Cup campaigns…

Barring any last-minute surprises, Tuchel’s team seems to be set, with the decision at centre-back raising most eyebrows.

Tuchel’s predecessors also wrestled with selection dilemmas before World Cup openers – some more successful than others.

Based mostly on a scientific formula of vibes and hindsight, here is how we’ve ranked the previous opening-game XIs this century…

6) England 1-1 USA – 2010

Rob Green had a shocker here – but so did Fabio Capello. None of his selection calls came off, with Green’s inclusion a sensible one before the keeper let Clint Dempsey’s tame shot squirm through his grasp before half-time.

By then, one eyebrow-raising pick had already backfired, with James Milner hooked on the half-hour, clearly not yet fit after a virus. Then Ledley King, who was a surprise inclusion in Capello’s squad after a three-year international absence, went off at the break with a groin injury which ended his tournament and England career.

Carragher replaced King in the next game against Algeria, with David James in for Green, while Gareth Barry came in to midfield, shunting Gerrard to the left. Capello’s tinkering produced a 0-0 draw and a performance even worse than the USA opener.

5) England 1-2 Italy – 2014

The only opener England have lost this century but the public was largely encouraged by a positive display against Italy. The optimism did not last, with the Three Lions home before the knockout stage.

Roy Hodgson’s biggest call was selecting 19-year-old Raheem Sterling over Adam Lallana, which was a surprise at the time. Sterling, though, was excellent, even if the attack looked imbalanced. Sterling’s inclusion at no.10 saw the actual no.10 Rooney shifted to the left, while the forward who usually played on that side, Danny Welbeck, went to the right.

Despite Sterling being the brightest spark in a central role, he was shifted to the wing for the next game with Rooney back in the middle. Sterling struggled and so did England, losing 2-1 to Uruguay, making it impossible to qualify from the group.

4) England 2-1 Tunisia – 2018

Unlike 2014, Sterling’s inclusion four years later was a rather more controversial one, the Manchester City attacker on day 983 of an international goal drought by the time England faced Tunisia in Russia.

Sterling was hooked before the hour mark by Gareth Southgate, who stuck with his three-at-the-back system despite previous struggles to break down deep-lying defences. And so it proved once more, with England grateful to goalscoring fraud Harry Kane for a late, late winner.

Sterling kept his place for the next game against Panama but Dele Alli lost his to Ruben Loftus-Cheek, albeit briefly. That was the only change to his starting XI made by Southgate through the entire tournament until semi-final defeat to Croatia.

3) England 1-1 Sweden – 2002

A few things stand out from Sven Goran Eriksson’s selection against his countrymen: Danny Mills played at right-back – he was at fault for Sweden’s goal – because Gary Neville was crocked, while Emile Heskey was picked on the left wing, with Michael Owen and Darius Vassell forming a Little & Little partnership up top.

The make-up of the forward line made England’s direct approach ineffective, with the Three Lions fortunate in the end to claim a draw after Sweden dominated the second half. Eriksson threw on Joe Cole for Vassell and Kieron Dyer for a half-fit David Beckham but to no avail.

Eriksson made one change for the next game: Nicky Butt in for Vassell, with Paul Scholes shifted to the left – that went well – and Heskey back up top.

2) England 6-2 Iran – 2022

The BBC described Southgate’s selection of Bukayo Saka over Phil Foden as ‘the only mildly contentious decision in his line-up’, which seems odd four years down the line, with Saka one of the first names on the team-sheet while Mason Mount is nowhere to be seen around an England camp.

Saka rewarded Southgate with a brace after Jude Bellingham opened the scoring. The then-Dortmund teenager’s display prompted many to get carried away, no one more than Jermaine Jenas, who described Bellingham as “like Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard rolled into one”.

Southgate went for the same again when they drew with USA in the next game but Foden had forced his way back into the team by the knockout stages, with Henderson in for Mount to provide a solid base and allow Bellingham to push further forward.

1) England 1-0 Paraguay – 2006

A similar story to the opener four years before: England dominate the early stages and lead through a set-piece before backing off and relinquishing the initiative to Paraguay. Who, clearly, were not used to it.

With the Golden Generation at his disposal, Eriksson’s XI was as strong as it could be while Wayne Rooney continued his recovery from a foot injury. But they once more failed to click, with Michael Owen subdued and replaced by Stewart Downing early in the second half.

Sven made one change for the next game against Trinidad, Jamie Carragher replacing Neville at right-back. And, if anything, they were worse again until Rooney and Aaron Lennon came off the bench, with England going 3-5-2 to secure a late, unconvincing win.

Still, looks good on paper, and as we all know, that’s the real measure…