ITV’s main World Cup voices have not backed England to win the tournament, with Roy Keane, Gary Neville, Ian Wright and Karen Carney all tipping Spain or France instead. That leaves Thomas Tuchel’s side starting a World Cup campaign under a cloud of outside doubt even after qualifying unbeaten and arriving as one of the highest-ranked teams.
The timing matters because England begin against Croatia, with Ghana and Panama to follow in the group stage, and Tuchel is trying to turn a strong qualification record into a title run under his watch after replacing Gareth Southgate last year. ITV’s coverage in North America also includes Emma Hayes, Patrick Vieira and Ally McCoist, but the message from its leading pundits was the same: England are being respected, not picked.
Keane was blunt about where he sees the problem. “I’m worried about England defensively. I can’t shake that off. I just think defensively, in the knockout stages against a top nation, that’s what could hold England back,” he said. Tuchel has taken nine defensive options to the tournament, including John Stones, Reece James, Marc Guehi, Ezri Konsa, Dan Burn, Nico O’Reilly, Tino Livramento, Jarell Quansah and Djed Spence, a group built to give England choices if they reach the last 16 and beyond.
Neville, usually one of England’s most persistent optimists, sounded more guarded. “I’m always the optimist with England. I’m always the person who says we can win it. This team, this squad, and this group of players have demonstrated, more than most, how close they can get to a World Cup and European Championship, winning major tournaments, but something about this tournament tells me we could find it quite difficult,” he said. He added that the searing heat could hurt England, ideally if matches are played with roofs on as much as possible, and said several players looked “a little bit jaded” or not quite at their best.
That is the friction in England’s build-up: they have the results and the ranking to be spoken of as contenders, but the pundits closest to their matches are still leaning elsewhere. The expanded tournament now goes into a round-of-32 stage, which means Tuchel’s group may have to solve those doubts quickly if England are to move from being respected outsiders to the team everyone else is trying to catch.
