Thomas Tuchel has never looked as happy as during the eight months in which he has been in charge of the England team. But now comes the sad part: being away from the players he has grown so fond of until the next international window in March. Despite the cynicism around his appointment, the German has proved to be a fine choice of coach and has given the Three Lions the shake-up they needed.
England have had promising qualifying campaigns for previous tournaments, but never before have they won all of their matches heading into a World Cup or ended one without conceding a goal. They might have had a relatively straightforward path to next summer's competition, but they took their task deadly seriously, developing a ruthless edge which saw them dig deep to see off Albania 2-0 in their final game with two goals in the final 15 minutes.
"It's as good as we've ever had," said captain Harry Kane, who has qualified for six major tournaments with England. "We're going to go into the tournament as one of the favourites and we have to accept that, it's been like that the past few tournaments now and that's part of it. We've been building, had a great year together with the new coach and it's now to 2026."
England have many reasons to be excited about next year, where they will be aiming to end a 60-year major trophy drought with a first triumph since the 1966 World Cup on home soil. England have always been optimistic ahead of tournaments, and while other nations might view that optimism as arrogance, the hype is now justified and they will have to be taken very seriously in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
But despite overseeing a perfect campaign, Tuchel still has a few issues to solve ahead of the tournament in June. Here, then, are the big questions the coach must answer over the next seven months…
GettyHow should he handle Jude Bellingham?
Tuchel has learned that the England media agenda essentially revolves around Jude Bellingham, whether he plays or not. The Real Madrid midfielder's absence from the squad in October remained a big talking point even when the games began, and the question of whether he would be recalled dominated the build-up to the November camp.
Even after impressing in a starting role against Albania, Bellingham managed to dominate the headlines again despite not scoring. His reaction to being substituted was instantly pored over by the press even though it was from the worst reaction that has ever been seen. Bellingham was not exactly thrilled to be taken off before the end, but nor did he throw his toys out of the pram, and Tuchel was caught unawares when asked about the reaction, saying he would "have to review it".
Despite appearing to not be bothered by Bellingham's reaction, Tuchel repeated his mantra that the team must come first by saying: "We're about standards, commitment and respect to each other. We'll not change our decision just because someone is waving their arms."
That could be interpreted as another criticism of Bellingham from Tuchel, who earlier this year revealed that his own mother found the Madrid man's behaviour to be "repulsive". It showed that Tuchel has still not learned how to properly handle Bellingham, and if he wants to have him in his squad then he needs to embrace Bellingham's ultra-competitive nature and resist giving the media more ammunition to use against him.
AdvertisementGettyWhat happens if Kane gets injured?
Kane scored his 77th and 78th goals for England against Albania, taking him past the total international goals scored by the great Pele. He found the net in six of the eight qualifiers, while he has scored eight more goals than any other player in Europe (Cristiano Ronaldo is his nearest challenger) across World Cup and European Championship qualifiers since 2019. Kane has become even more pivotal under Tuchel, scoring nine goals in nine games under the German coach, accounting for 34 percent of England's total strikes.
But it begs the question: what happens if Kane gets injured? England have grown to become so reliant on Kane that Gareth Southgate picked him in all seven matches at Euro 2024 despite him clearly lacking sharpness following a back injury. Trusting in Kane now makes perfect sense given he is in the best form of his career, but England need a contingency plan for the eventuality that he does become unavailable, especially as he is likely to be feeling the strain of his record-breaking season for Bayern Munich by the time the World Cup comes around.
"I don't want to think of an England without Harry Kane," said former England defender Conor Coady on , and he's not the only one. Tuchel didn't even bother to pick another centre-forward in his latest squad after Ollie Watkins was ruled out with injury, leaving Jarrod Bowen and Marcus Rashford as the only options in the event Kane wasn't available. They will, however, need a more proven option next summer.
Getty Images SportWho should partner John Stones at the back?
John Stones has started England's last four games after recovering from injury, and as long as he can stay fit until next June, he looks nailed-on to be one of the starting centre-backs in North America. He gives England twin assets of a wealth of experience in defence as well as flair in midfield, but it is a toss-up over who should partner him at the heart of the defence.
Dan Burn was exposed at several points during the trip to Albania and he lacks senior tournament experience, and Marc Guehi seems the more reliable option given he was one of England's most consistent performers at Euro 2024, although it is not clear how much Tuchel rates him. The manager took the Crystal Palace captain out of his starting line-up last month against Latvia with no obvious explanation and did not bring him off the bench either.
A foot injury put Guehi out of contention for the latest camp and Ezri Konsa, who stepped in for him when he was suspended for a game at the Euros and took his place against Latvia, performed well against Serbia in his absence before then sustaining a calf injury of his own which ruled him out against Albania. Jarell Quansah, who made his debut against Albania, is the fourth choice as things stand.
Getty Images SportCan out-of-favour full-backs earn a recall?
While Tuchel has shown himself to be largely uninterested in public opinion when it comes to picking players, a couple of options he previously favoured have fallen out of favour due to the decisions of other coaches.
Myles Lewis-Skelly scored the first goal of the Tuchel era against Albania back in March amid his stunning breakthrough season for Arsenal, but he has since faded from the picture for club and, by extension, country. The left-back has fallen behind Riccardo Calafiori in the pecking order for Mikel Arteta and has only started four games this season, none of which have come in the Premier League.
Tuchel continued to pick Lewis-Skelly for the fixtures in September and October, but drew the line this time around, partly because Nico O'Reilly's form for Manchester City was impossible to ignore. O'Reilly completed 90 minutes against both Serbia and Albania and now looks to be the frontrunner to be first-choice left-back at the World Cup, especially if Lewis-Skelly continues to get little playing time with Arsenal.
Tuchel acted more swiftly to drop Trent Alexander-Arnold following his slow start with Real Madrid, dropping him for the September games and has not recalled him since. England do have many other options at right-back, although Tino Livramento is currently out with a knee problem and Reece James has a complicated injury history of his own, even if he has remained fit so far this season.
Alexander-Arnold remains a classy option to return to given his vision and passing ability, but Tuchel, rather like with Arteta, is at the mercy of Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, who has handed the former Liverpool right-back just three starts in all competitions so far this term.