Manager Thomas Tuchel has made changes to England’s squad ahead of the friendly against Japan. (Image: Getty)
Manager Thomas Tuchel has named a revised 27-man England squad ahead of Tuesday night’s international friendly against Japan at Wembley Stadium. Eight players will leave camp following Friday night’s 1-1 draw with Uruguay.
Aaron Ramsdale, Fikayo Tomori, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, John Stones, Adam Wharton, Noni Madueke, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka will all leave the team. The latter two stars had just joined up with the Three Lions on Friday along with nine other players.
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Three Arsenal players will return to the club for medical tests, with Maduke injured in the draw with Marcelo Bielsa’s side, while Rice and Saka will not feature in Tuesday’s friendly. Crystal Palace star Wharton will also return to Crystal Palace after getting a knock in Tuesday night’s draw.
England said in a statement: “The 27-player England squad is preparing for Tuesday’s match against Japan at Wembley Stadium. A total of eight players will leave camp, including Aaron Ramsdale, Fikayo Tomori and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
“John Stones discovered the problem in training ahead of Friday night’s 1-1 draw with Uruguay and will return to Manchester City for diagnosis. Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton and Arsenal’s Noni Madueke have returned to their clubs after receiving knocks during the match.”
“Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka will also arrive on Friday along with nine other players and will return to Arsenal for medicals. The rest of that group is made up of Dean Henderson, Nico O’Reilly, Ezri Konsa, Marc Guehi, Dan Byrne, Elliot Anderson, Morgan Rodgers, Anthony Gordon and Harry Kane.”
Noni Madueke left Wembley on Friday night with a foot brace in place. (Image: Getty)
Tuchel is currently having to battle some injury problems, but there is still time to make his squad for this summer’s World Cup in the United States. Manchester United defender Harry Maguire is among the players hoping to book a spot on the plane, but the German head coach appears to have dealt a blow to his hopes of making another World Cup appearance.
Coach Tuchel said, “He played as solid a central defender as I expected.” “That’s his job. He’s very good on the ball, he’s very calm, he’s strong in the air, he’s got set-piece weapons. My mind hasn’t changed, but I think there are other players who could start and I see other players with different profiles coming forward.”
“You see Ezri Konsa first, you see Marc Guehi first. It’s no secret. You can see that Trevor Chalobah was slightly better in terms of mobility. We also had John Stones, but he was injured. We needed to see him in person to see how he behaves within the group. It will be interesting to see how he behaves within the group. He will remain with us.”
“As I said, of course he has the advantage that he can be very important in tournaments, in knockout football, defending leads and chasing games with crosses, long throw-ins and set-pieces.”
Asked if Maguire would be in the England squad if he had to name the squad tomorrow, Tuchel replied: “If, if, if. He doesn’t have to name the team tomorrow. He played a good game.”
“He did what he was supposed to do at Man United. He did it right away. I’m very happy for him. To be honest, my opinion hasn’t changed. He got everything I expected from him.”
“If we were to make a pick tomorrow, we have a lot of injuries, but there’s a chance he could play. Who else would we have in the center of defense?”
