England: ‘Expected’ Tuchel starting XI decision with Man City star for World Cup opener revealed | OneFootball

According to reports, head coach Thomas Tuchel is ‘expected’ to start Manchester City star John Stones in England’s World Cup opener.

The Three Lions are currently finalising their preparations for the World Cup, which gets underway in just over a week.

Tuchel’s side head into the tournament as one of the favourites to win the World Cup, and they face Croatia, Ghana and Panama in their three group games.

Croatia are not the team they once were, but they are still arguably England’s toughest opponent in Group L, and Tuchel likely already knows his starting XI for this match.

And with England’s squad numbers for the World Cup released, there is now a hint at Tuchel’s preferred XI for the tournament.

Stones, who will depart Man City upon the expiry of his contract later this month, will be England’s No.5 at the World Cup, and journalist Henry Winter claims he is ‘expected’ to start against Croatia.

After posting a picture of Stones training for England on Tuesday. Winter said on X: ‘John Stones training at West Palm Beach today. Expected to start v Croatia in Dallas. Poignant moment.

‘Stones trained in Miami before 2014 World Cup, standby player, one cap v Ecuador, his second, and then flew home. 85 appearances later … big player for #ENG.’

John Stones decision is harsh on Ezri Konsa

Stones has been a great player for England for many years, but he has only been a bit-part player for Man City this season due to injury, so it is somewhat surprising that he is seemingly being preferred over Marc Guehi and/or Ezri Konsa.

Guehi and Konsa have impressed as a pair for England and their form for their clubs mean they are more deserving of a place in the starting XI than Stones, with the Aston Villa star the most likely of the two to miss out.

Regardless, England and Bayern Munich star Harry Kane has explained why he thinks his side’s “goal” has to be to win the World Cup this summer.

“At Bayern, I loved [Tuchel’s] personality, his ideas for the team, and the way he got me playing. In a way, he brought those methods to the national team,” Kane said.

“The ambition is to win it (the World Cup), obviously, that has to be our goal.

“We know it will be difficult, but we have been close in recent years to winning a major tournament – we reached two Euro finals (in 2021 and 2024), a semi-final (in 2018) and a quarter-final (in 2022) of the World Cup.

“This year, we will have a new coach, new players. It is exciting – even if this kind of competition generates a lot of pressure.”

Kane has also admitted that he thinks he would be in contention for this year’s Ballon d’Or if England won the World Cup, he added: “I’d probably say I’ll be up there for sure.

“With the season I’ve had, I think with winning the three trophies, the numbers I’ve reached, I think I’ll be in that conversation,” Kane said in an interview with L’Equipe that was conducted ahead of joining up with the England squad.

“If I win the World Cup on top of that, you would imagine it would be one of the England players.

“When you look at some of the past winners of the Ballon d’Or, for sure it comes down to the big games, the big tournaments, and you add that on top of what I’ve achieved this year, I think I’ll be up there.”