Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup in-tray: copy Arsenal, call ex-Chelsea boss and recall two resurgent England defenders

Today marks 100 days until the 2026 World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

And there are still a few things England manager Thomas Tuchel must sort out in that time.

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The Three Lions are among the favourites to lift the famous trophy this summer having qualified with a perfect record, winning every game without conceding a goal.

As Tuchel’s side prepare to face Croatia at Dallas Stadium in their World Cup opener on June 17, talkSPORT’s chief football correspondent Alex Crook outlines six things the England manager must address before the showpiece event…

Get Jude Bellingham fit and firing

Tuchel appeared to be heading for a club versus country row when he told talkSPORT at last month’s Nations League draw, ‘the club is more defensive on the outlook of his recovery’ with regards to Bellingham’s fitness.

The Real Madrid star has not kicked as ball in anger since pulling up with a hamstring injury ten minutes into the Spanish giants’ 2-1 win over Real Vallecano on February 1.

Despite Tuchel’s comments, it looks highly unlikely Bellingham will be fit enough to feature in this month’s friendlies with Japan and Uruguay.

That means the only minutes he has played for his country this season were in the 2-0 qualifying win over Albania in November having been left out from the previous camp.

That shock omission called into question Bellingham’s status as a guaranteed starter.

But with fellow No.10 Cole Palmer struggling for form and fitness and Phil Foden battling just to make the plane, England need a fully fit and firing Bellingham. Morgan Rogers is having a great season, but an on-song Bellingham is on another level.

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Decide on an understudy for Harry Kane

The prospect of this being Harry Kane’s last World Cup is a scary one for England fans. 

Kane will be a month away from his 36^th birthday by the time the next one in Morocco, Spain and Portugal comes around in 2030, and even with his incredible fitness record, it is hard to envisage him still leading the line.

How England fill that void is a big problem, as highlighted by the lack of options for the role of back-up for this tournament.

Ollie Watkins arguably outperformed Kane at the Euro 2024, scoring the iconic goal against the Dutch to fire Sir Gareth Southgate’s men into the final, but is yet to hit double figures this season.

Liam Delap has not kicked on as was hoped at Chelsea, which leaves veteran Danny Welbeck and Dominic Calvert-Lewin as the Premier League’s top English scorers.

I am not convinced at this stage Tuchel will even take a second striker to the US. Marcus Rashford can play there if needed and Anthony Gordon’s best games for Newcastle of late has been as a false 9.

The simple fact is none of the options for understudy inspire confidence. If Kane was to pick up an injury we can forget any hope we have of winning the World Cup.

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Settle on a first-choice left-back

England have used six different left-backs in Tuchel’s ten games at the helm.

Of those half-a-dozen, Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly, with five appearances, has played there the most, but is far from guaranteed a spot in the squad due to his lack of Premier League minutes.

Nico O’Reilly has excelled in his two starts, but has been pushed back into his more natural central midfield role by Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola.

Djed Spence is not having a great time at Tottenham and Tino Livramento’s injury record is a massive cause for concern.

Tuchel has hinted he is considering recalling Luke Shaw, who is now a regular starter at Manchester United. Shaw was brilliant at Euro 2020 and brought much-needed balance to the team in the semi-final and final four years later.

He is not getting any younger and his minutes will need to be managed, but against the better nations the Manchester United ace may be Tuchel’s best bet.

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Recall Harry Maguire

You have to go back to September 2024 and a Nations League win over the Republic of Ireland for the last time Harry Maguire pulled on an England shirt.

Tuchel has not picked the Manchester United centre-back for any of his squads, and up until a few weeks ago he was not really in the conversation for a recall.

But Maguire has been in superb form for United since Michael Carrick’s appointment as manager, helping the rampant Red Devils to six wins and a draw from their last seven games.

The 32-year-old was named in the team of the tournament as England reached the final of Euro 2020 and was one of the best defenders at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

He brings that big-game experience and mentality, and with John Stones’ season ravaged by injury, is a viable option to partner Marc Guehi at the heart of England’s back-line. 

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Perfect set-pieces

Arne Slot might not like it but modern football is all about marginal gains and Tuchel has already stressed the importance of long throws and dead balls to England’s quest for a first trophy since 1966.

Go back to 2018 when the Three Lions were surprise World Cup semi-finalists and the record books tell us they scored nine of their 12 goals from set pieces.

Tuchel has players, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka to name but two, capable of putting free kicks and corners on a six pence for their teammates.

It is only right the German takes advantage of the extra physicality the England players are used to week-in, week-out in the Premier League.

If England can ‘Arsenal‘ their way to glory, nobody will be complaining.

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Find a way to deal with the climate

One of the main reasons I am sceptical about England going all the way in North America is the climate.

Germany in Brazil in 2014 are the only European team to have won a World Cup in the Americas.

With temperatures for England’s three group games expected to hit 30 degrees, Tuchel has been preparing his players for the humid conditions by making them train in heated tents.

He has also arranged a two-week pre-tournament boot camp in Miami to help acclimatise. Tuchel could do worse than call Enzo Maresca and ask how he managed the condition to lead Chelsea to last summer’s Club World Cup triumph.