Were England players really 'playing for themselves' - and what next?

ByBrendon Mitchell

BBC Sport journalist

There may be 80 days before England begin their World Cup campaign against Croatia in Texas, but this international break has been widely seen as last-chance territory.

A final opportunity to mould a team capable of competing in this summer's tournament - and for any players hoping to force their way into Thomas Tuchel's plans.

The German's approach to this window has been novel, naming an expanded 35-man squad, split into two separate camps across the two fixtures.

The first has been made up primarily of fringe players, with the returning Harry Maguire and Phil Foden lining up alongside debutants James Garner and James Trafford in Friday's flat 1-1 draw with Uruguay.

Captain Harry Kane leads an 11-man entourage who will come in for Tuesday's game against Japan. Tuchel's most tried, tested and trusted are among that group - players like Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and Morgan Rogers.

Will he be satisfied with what he's seen - or could he come to regret his left-field squad strategy?

Tuchel was named as England manager in October 2024, taking up the role on 1 January 2025.

Yet, despite already having his contract extended, he has only had 11 games.

To put that into context, Roy Hodgson's first 11 matches came within the 169 days following his appointment. It has taken Tuchel 609 days to reach the same number.

England breezed through qualifying, winning all eight games, scoring 22 goals and conceding none to finish comfortably clear at the top of Group K.

However, their group opponents were Albania, Andorra, Latvia and Serbia - four sides ranked outside the world's top 20.

Indeed, their toughest test in terms of ranking last year was a friendly against Senegal, who were 19th in the world at the time. England lost 3-1.

When the fixtures against Uruguay and Japan were announced, Tuchel said "we wanted to play two teams ranked in the top 20 in the world and test ourselves against opponents from outside of Europe".

So do we now have a better idea of how the Three Lions might shape up against higher-quality opposition in the summer?

"We expected an indifferent performance because of the changes," ex-England goalkeeper Paul Robinson told BBC Radio 5 Live. "I'm not so sure we have learned anything different about the team as a collective.

"We weren't looking at England as a collective. It wasn't a performance to be judged as a team - it was for individuals."

BBC senior football correspondent Sami Mokbel added: "I wouldn't go as far as saying it was a pointless exercise - but I'm not sure Tuchel would have left Wembley having gleaned too much new information.

"That's the problem with this sort of audition, players are always likely to take an approach with a view to impressing the manager instead of playing the game they would usually."

According to Robinson, therein lies the problem for Tuchel and England - Friday's game played out more like a trial than a quest for "cohesion" and "team performance".

"You got the impression watching the game that individuals were trying too hard in certain situations," said Robinson. "They looked like a bunch of trialists trying to impress a manager to get through to the next stage of that trial.

"It really stunk of a performance of players who were playing for a place on the plane for self gain rather than team gain. It was a difficult watch at times.

"He created that atmosphere by naming that 35-man squad.

"You can't dress it up any other way, Thomas Tuchel can say he's looking at all these players, that we're going to play this way, this is what we're doing, it's a team... that's nonsense. It was an individual trial game."

Tuchel, however, said he had "learned a lot" from the draw.

"You just see it in the details," he added. "You learn a lot in the details, how is the behaviour and you see the level. I'm happy that we did it the way we did it."

Once Tuesday's match against Japan at Wembley is out the way, England have two more friendly games against New Zealand on 6 June and Costa Rica on 10 June.

The World Cup gets under way 24 hours later.

Tuchel must submit his final squad by Saturday, 30 May, meaning he has just one more game before choosing who to take to the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Fair enough, then, that he would want to see as many players as possible up close?

"This was a still a very worthwhile exercise for Tuchel and he was correct to give so many of England's shadow players game time," said BBC chief football writer Phil McNulty.

"With many of his starting line-up set in stone, he was well within his rights to take a look at those he is still considering against a Uruguay team under Marcelo Bielsa that simply does not do friendlies.

"Maguire showed his worth and experience in defence, while Everton midfielder Garner looked perfectly at home on the England stage – although whether he did enough to force his way into the World Cup squad is another matter.

"Tuchel must settle on an understudy for England captain Harry Kane, one of his most crucial decisions, so it was understandable he utilised both Tottenham's Dominic Solanke and Dominic Calvert-Lewin from Leeds.

"As for Tuesday's friendly against Japan, we can expect to see many of England's World Cup first choices return – but Tuchel could not be blamed if he took another look at some who still need to convince him of their worth of a place in his World Cup squad."

When naming his 35-man squad, Tuchel emphasised the importance of keeping players fresh.

After four of the six Premier League teams in this season's Champions League were knocked out in the space of 24 hours at the last-16 stage, much was made of the volume of games they had faced.

Chelsea head coach Liam Rosenior said his side were tired, having played "over 100 games in 18 months with no break", while Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has often lamented the schedule, previously calling it a "disaster" for players.

Liverpool's Arne Slot said the lack of a winter break in England is "not helpful". The French, German and Spanish leagues all enjoy winter breaks spanning 10-17 days.

"These guys have played 3,500 minutes, some 4,000 minutes," said Tuchel when asked about his England players. "More important than the pure number of minutes is some of these guys have played more minutes than the whole of last season.

"All of these players have contributed in September, October and November. They have credit with me. To give them a break mentally and physically, we will benefit from it."

United States women's head coach Emma Hayes agreed.

"He knows what he's doing," the ex-Chelsea manager told ITV. "Most importantly it's about keeping the core group really fresh."