Are England Still Among The World Cup Favourites? | OneFootball

Up until a few months ago, England were considered among the front-runners for the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup. The Three Lions had enjoyed a flawless qualifying campaign, collecting eight victories in eight games and scoring 22 goals while conceding zero.

More importantly, however, it seemed like England were headed to the World Cup without their long-running tournament curse.

It was always tradition for England to go out early in dramatic fashion, usually on penalties, and suffer heartbreak after heartbreak. Previous manager Gareth Southgate turned that around, reaching two European Championship finals and the 2018 World Cup Semi-Final.

With respected German manager Thomas Tuchel now at the reins, big things were expected of England heading into the World Cup. The March friendlies, however, raised a host of new questions about how the team were looking.

This begs the question of whether March was just a hiccup or whether England’s status among the tournament favourites may have been oversold.

March dents confidence

England’s pair of March friendlies started badly with a 1-1 draw against Uruguay. The messy game, marred by refereeing mistakes, looked set to end goalless before a late flurry of action saw Arsenal defender Ben White score, then soon after give away a penalty that Frederico Valverde converted.

Things were more worrying in the following game against Japan. The Blue Samurai are quietly confident that they’re bringing their best-ever team to the World Cup and have shown their strength by outclassing England in a 1-0 victory.

The results saw England drop to third favourites for the World Cup, and fifth favourites based on the industry-standard Opta stats. The confidence among fans also took a big hit.

The England sides who played in March, however, will bear little resemblance to the one that will walk out against Croatia on 17th June. Talismanic captain Harry Kane, who was called up but unused in March, will doubtless return to lead the line.

Tuchel has also made the kinds of bold squad selections that fans have long been asking for. Rather than picking on reputation, popularity, or past performance, he’s selected a team based purely on tactical depth and form. His choices may have raised eyebrows, but they’ve also raised hopes. Fans are again getting behind England, and can back the team at the World Cup with a William Hill promo code for the UK.

Tuchel criticised, but answered fans’ wishes

The two biggest names left out of England’s World Cup squad are Chelsea’s Cole Palmer and Manchester City’s Phil Foden. Both players have had difficult seasons with their clubs, putting in performances well below their usual levels. In previous seasons, both still would’ve likely been brought to the tournament. Not under Tuchel.

Palmer and Foden had their chances to show Tuchel that they could perform for England despite a stuttering domestic season. Foden started in midfield against Uruguay, with Palmer replacing him in the 56th minute. Both then started against Japan, with Foden up front and Palmer in the 10 role.

The pair proved ineffective and, without a strong club campaign to save them, neither made the squad. The same can be said about strikers Dominic Solanke and Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Both were given chances up front in March, and neither could prove to Tuchel they should be included as backups to Kane.

There were controversial choices in Tuchel’s squad. The most discussed was the omission of Manchester United defender Harry Maguire, who has been a key part of England’s recent tournament success. The inclusion of Brentford midfielder Jordan Henderson, at the expense of Adam Wharton, and Al-Ahli striker Ivan Toney also caused some surprise.

Overall, however, the squad stuck to what England fans always cry for heading into a tournament: picking a squad based on form, rather than the highest-paid Englishmen from leading clubs.

The March games were an experiment. There were periods in both games, mainly when Tuchel substituted on a more normal line-up, where England looked like their usual, dangerous selves. Large swathes, however, were Tuchel trying out his ‘Plan B’ options and weeding out the ones that didn’t work.

This pattern will doubtless continue for the team’s warm-up games against New Zealand and Costa Rica, with Tuchel honing in on some alternate approaches. Any results less than a dominant win will likely raise more questions, but like the ones from March, these can be ignored.

The England team from the last window wasn’t the same one that was perfect in qualifying. And it’s that team, with a more familiar line-up and tactics, who’ll show up to the World Cup and prove they are very much still among the favourites.