Thomas Tuchel keeps everyone guessing with clever plan for deciding England's World Cup squad | OneFootball

First call-ups, 35-year-old goalkeepers and one massive squad make these March friendlies far more interesting

Thomas Tuchel likes throwing a spanner in the works as England manager. Whether it was the decision to drop Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham in October or calling Ruben Loftus-Cheek back from the international wilderness, he has kept us guessing.

Tuchel broke with all tradition, taking a rather revolutionary approach to a March squad in a tournament year. A total of 35 players were named in a huge group for friendlies against Uruguay and Japan at Wembley this month .

Brighton’s reserve goalkeeper Jason Steele, 35 years old, included?

The thinking behind Tuchel’s squad needed explaining — and once it was laid out by the German, there was method and sense to this unprecedented way of setting up a last camp before he names his final 26-man squad in May.

Brighton’s Jason Steele was a surprise inclusion in the squad

Ben Whitley/PA Wire

It will allow more players in the England conversation to get in front of him and train with the coaching staff, perhaps earning match minutes and keeping them invested in the World Cup dream during the final weeks of the Premier League season, in case of any injury crisis. That is understandable.

Tuchel is also effectively splitting the camp into two. Eleven players will join up midway through - either next Friday evening or Saturday morning - ready for the Japan game but missing the Uruguay match.

These are the players who have had the most gruelling campaigns so far and it will enable them to have a rest mid-season. It can be easily inferred that they would also be on the plane, if it left for the United States tomorrow.

There are players who will then leave the camp after the Uruguay match to enable space for the second group, as Tuchel does not want any of his training sessions during this international break to be with many more than 20 outfield players at any one time.

He has a fair idea of who will depart, yet outstanding performances from individuals could see them stay on.

Here is why this idea works: it maximises his knowledge, gives key players a rest, and also includes an element of auditioning.

And on Steele? He is a training goalkeeper, not a candidate to dislodge Jordan Pickford as England No1. It won't, of course, be Steele who features between the sticks this month.

Trent Alexander-Arnold appears a long-shot to make the World Cup

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Tuchel even said: “England has a history of taking four goalkeepers to a tournament, which makes absolute sense” — hinting that either Steele or whichever of Aaron Ramsdale and James Trafford misses out on the third-choice spot in the squad could still go as a unregistered fourth goalkeeper. Tom Heaton fulfilled that role at Euro 2024.

A squad so large means those fit and available yet uninvolved face a real fight. Though Tuchel replied “No” after a lengthy pause when asked whether Trent Alexander-Arnold can now be considered extremely unlikely to make the World Cup squad, the reality is that this was a show of diplomacy and Alexander-Arnold definitely is on the brink of missing out entirely. The same goes for Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ben White, Morgan Gibbs-White and Luke Shaw.

Whether Ollie Watkins being snubbed in favour of Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Dominic Solanke is more about new learnings than Watkins dropping down the pecking order remains to be seen.

And what must new players do in the first camp to create a headache for the England head coach? “Adapt very quickly to the way we want to play,” he explained.

What appeared at first glance a messy party, is, it seems, a quite ingenious twist on the March camp in a World Cup year. Now to find out how Tuchel’s grand plan plays out in practice.