Thomas Tuchel reveals plan to 'split' England squad as coach explains why he named 35-man team

England face Uruguay at Wembley on March 27 before taking on Japan four days later, with both fixtures representing the last opportunity for fringe players to stake a claim for a place on the plane to North America this summer. Tuchel was quick to clear up confusion behind selecting 35 players for the upcoming break, explaining that the squad would essentially operate as two separate groups across the two matches. 

Speaking to the FA after naming his squad, the England head coach gave a lengthy interview. "That sounds a lot. Actually, it is 19 outfield players and four goalkeepers from Tuesday to Saturday and then I think it's 22 outfield players and three or four goalkeepers in the second match, so nobody needs to sit in the stands in either of the matches," he said. 

"Players who are now heavily involved in European football and regular players for their clubs, having more than 3,500 sometimes over 4,000 minutes, and were with us in September, October and November - they got some days off. We think we will all benefit from that rest. They come energised and with hunger for the second match against Japan. It gives us the opportunity to look at some new players and look at players who didn't play so much in the last three camps. It's a good opportunity for them to impress and they deserve also the full attention from us."

The squad contains two uncapped players in 35-year-old Brighton goalkeeper Jason Steele and Everton midfielder James Garner, both of whom Tuchel is looking forward to seeing in an England shirt. Steele, he explained, is being considered for a specific role. "He will support the goalkeeper group, support the goalkeeper coach, support a penalty-taking group and take a lot of workload off the other shoulders. That's why we need an experienced guy, with quality, experience and the right energy and attitude." 

On Garner, Tuchel added: "James Garner just has a fantastic season. He's always available for Everton. He plays in multiple positions, right defender, left defender, six, eight. He's fast, he has a clean foot and takes all the set pieces. I think he deserves it. He's a bit of an underrated player. I saw him many times now live and am convinced about his quality and his character."

The inclusions of Harry Maguire and Kobbie Mainoo reflect United's turnaround under Michael Carrick, with Tuchel making it clear that both recalls are directly tied to their performances since the interim boss arrived at Old Trafford in January. "Harry simply deserves it. He has, especially since Michael Carrick took over, had very, very good performances and fantastic results and is a key figure in the Man United squad who is now in third place and on a very good run of form. He's a big reason for that. He has outstanding qualities on set-pieces, so I'm happy that he found his way back to us." 

On Mainoo, Tuchel had similar praise: "Kobbie is like Harry. A major part of the success story with Man United lately. He plays all the time and I hear so many good things from the FA and from other players and I see his quality. Competition is on for him."

With Tuchel's contract now extended through to Euro 2028, there is perhaps a longer-term lens through which some of this month's selections can be viewed. But the immediate focus is on the World Cup. Both Uruguay and Japan are top-level opponents, and Tuchel says he expects nothing less than full force from both groups in his England camp. "I am convinced we need two hungry teams because the opponents are very different from each other but very, very good football teams. We need top quality, we need hunger and excitement to create excitement. That's our goal," he said. 

"I'm happy for the first group to come in, many young players, many new faces, players I haven't worked before with, players who haven't had maybe so many minutes recently. Then I'm happy when the guys come back who contributed a lot through September, October and November to keep the standards where they were and straight away, go and push the level further."