Thomas Tuchel says there are just 10 spots left in England World Cup 2026 squad
England resume their World Cup qualification campaign on Saturday with a trip to Andorra, but players are fighting for a diminishing number of places in Thomas Tuchel's squad
England boss Thomas Tuchel has admitted there are just 10 spots remaining in his squad for next summer's World Cup. The Three Lions still have six games to play in their qualification group.
Their next match comes on Saturday evening when they travel to face minnows Andorra in Barcelona. But having won their opening two qualifiers, England appear almost certain to book their place in next summer's tournament.
That will be held across the United States of America, Canada and Mexico. The revamped competition will see more games than ever before, though only 16 countries will be dumped out at the group stage.
England are likely to be one of the favourites to win the World Cup, having finished as runners-up in each of the last two European Championships. Tuchel has been brought in to lead them to glory in next summer's tournament.
The German has sprung a few surprises in his first few squads, bringing the likes of Jordan Henderson and Ivan Toney in from the cold. He only has a handful more camps in which to test out players in his team.
And a year out from the World Cup, the England boss has now confirmed that there are only 10 spots remaining in his squad. Each country will be allowed to name 26 players for the tournament.
But Tuchel has already settled on 16 names. He told ITV Sport: "I have to take a guess, I would say 16, maybe. But it's just a guess, maybe it's less, maybe it's more. We need a bit of time. We still have time."
The Three Lions are heavy favourites to smash Andorra, before hosting Senegal in a friendly at Nottingham Forest's City Ground on Tuesday. Speaking after naming his squad for these games, Tuchel admitted he is relishing the chance to work with his players again.
'We can't wait,' Tuchel said. 'It's been a while. We had a good first camp and we are eager to do the next step and have a good camp again in Spain and back at St. George's Park with two matches.
'We want to win both matches. It's super important. We are the heavy favourites [against Andorra] and we expect from ourselves a win. We will prepare for this game with all the respect and of course, very seriously.
'We love Wembley and Wembley is our home but it's a nice change of routine [to play at the City Ground]. It will be a nice occasion because Senegal are a strong team, high up in the international ranking, so it will be a good test and a necessary test.'
'This is maybe the last chance to integrate more players and see more players in our environment and see how they behave and see the quality and what they can bring to the group.
'We added some new guys to have a full picture when things become even more competitive in September, October and November.'
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