England striker rivals set for key audition in battle to be Harry Kane's World Cup understudy | OneFootball

Dominic Solanke and Dominic Calvert-Lewin will be eager to impress against Uruguay, but Thomas Tuchel has other intriguing possibilities

Scour the list of 11 of Thomas Tuchel's most trusted England players rested for tonight’s game against Uruguay and there is a clear anomaly.

While 10 of those are Premier League players who have featured in European competition during an arduous season, one name sticks out: Harry Kane.

No, is the answer, but then Kane is a special case - England’s best player and the one they most need fit and firing ahead of the World Cup.

He has been far and away England’s best striker for a decade now, and that has often left the position of his understudy as something of an afterthought.

In a 26-man squad across an exhausting tournament that could see England play eight matches, picking the right individual is imperative.

Ollie Watkins could still go to the World Cup, despite being left out of England’s latest squad

REUTERS

New faces stake their claim at Wembley this evening. As the England captain takes his leave, Tuchel can call on the two Dominics - Solanke and Calvert-Lewin.

Solanke has not played for his country since Lee Carsley’s spell as caretaker manager. But while this has been an injury-plagued season, he is free of it now and his goalscoring form for Tottenham while they were still in the Champions League may explain why Tuchel fancies a look at how he fits into his team.

Not since the quarter-finals of Euro 2020, when he came off the bench to replace Kane against Ukraine, has Calvert-Lewin represented England.

This recall can be no shock, however, to those who have tuned in to the season he is enjoying at Leeds. Clinical? Hardly. But into double figures for Premier League goals this term.

And with regular goalscoring opportunities coming his way, Calvert-Lewin appears to have timed his late dash for the World Cup squad to perfection.

“It is an upside for both Dominics to come without Harry,” Tuchel explained last week.

Squad-building is a complex process, and the German insists there are “a lot of factors” that come into play when he is considering who should be the deputy for England’s all-time leading scorer.

“Both [Calvert-Lewin and Solanke] are very good penalty-takers for their clubs and we need substitutes in any position who are able to take penalties, because it is very likely you have to overcome penalty shootouts at a World Cup,” Tuchel said.

“What if we chase a result? What if we need to change the approach? What if we need to break a block down? What if we need crosses; who is good in the air? Who is good at set-pieces? Who can help us with defensive set-pieces?”

Calvert-Lewin appears to have timed his late dash for England’s World Cup squad to perfection

Some of these unknowns should begin to crystalise this week, and it is the pursuit of new knowledge that explains why Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins - scorer of the 90th-minute goal that sent England to the Euro 2024 final - was not included in Tuchel’s 35-man squad for these games, the manager relaxed about the situation and of the belief that he already knows “very well what Ollie would give us”.

The wildcard option remains in hand and playable. Positional versatility is an asset worth its weight in gold come tournament time, and Tuchel continues to fantasise about using Phil Foden, a No10 by trade, as a hybrid No9 this summer.

Indeed, the Manchester City star will stick around when others leave for the Japan game so he can be further tested there in training.

Anthony Gordon, Jarrod Bowen and Marcus Rashford are three England wingers also able to play up front.

Might the England coach yet snub all and any like-for-like Kane understudies and fashion other attackers into auxiliary strikers in North America, to free up one more place in the squad in a different position?

“Yes,” Tuchel replied when asked this time last week. “It is possible. Everything is possible.” This is a battle far from won.