Thomas Tuchel still has choices to make in his England XI before England open their 2026 campaign against Croatia on Wednesday night. The squad is not yet settled, even with Jordan Pickford fixed as the undisputed no.1.
That matters now because this is being treated as a World Cup squad game, not a fixed starting XI. Declan Rice sits at the top of the importance ranking, and the argument for that is plain: he is the player around whom the rest of the structure is being judged. Harry Kane remains central, but the team’s balance is being measured through Rice because the midfield shape affects more of Tuchel’s decisions than any single forward slot.
Pickford’s position is the one area that does not appear to be up for debate. Behind him, the ranking places another goalkeeper in the no.2 slot, and Jordan Henderson is the man who would be first off the bench if that player is injured. That detail tells you how Tuchel is thinking about this squad. Some names are being held close for emergency cover, while others are being prepared for real minutes rather than ceremonial appearances.
The same logic runs through the rest of the group. Ollie Watkins is treated as Kane’s first stand-in, Ivan Toney has been brought in from the cold, and Eberechi Eze could be used across the front line or even deeper. Djed Spence also gains ground because Tuchel sees other uses in both of his starters at full-back, while Morgan Rogers is preferred in a central role as the option standing in for Bukayo Saka. Each of those calls points to the same thing: Tuchel is still deciding not just who starts, but how many jobs each player can cover.
There is a harder edge to the selections as well. Jarell Quansah is in the group as a surprise inclusion, Jason Steele is in the England squad after the injury to Tino Livramento, and Elliot Anderson’s misfortune could open more of a path for Michael Mainoo. Henderson’s value also sits in that picture, because Tuchel clearly trusts his influence even if the role left to him looks limited. He would, in the most likely scenario, be hoping for only token time in a third-place play-off unless Pickford is injured.
So the immediate story is not just that England are about to play Croatia. It is that Tuchel is still using the days before Wednesday night to sort a squad that looks more like a working World Cup squad than a finished XI. Rice may be the player he leans on most, but the final shape around him is still being written.
