Ben White gets green light to start vs Japan as Thomas Tuchel admits England concern

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Ben White has been given the green light to start against Japan - even after being booed by England fans.

Arsenal defender White made his first appearance for England in three-and-a-half years against Uruguay after quitting the World Cup in 2022. White got booed even after scoring on Friday night and conceded a penalty but Thomas Tuchel insists that he has shown no bad reaction in training and he has also spoken to his teammates about the whole situation.

England boss Tuchel said: “He has our support and I think he feels our support and the support from the group. I understand that it happened to some other players already and hopefully we got it out of our system and if he plays tomorrow, there's a chance - because it would make sense to play a lot of players who have fresh legs and didn’t start the first match.

“He is one of them – and if he has a good training session he’s in the mix. I’m not involved in all the meetings and talks that go on without the coach and I was in a lot of meetings looking at Japan and stuff.

"So I am not fully aware but I think so – that’s my guess. He was good, again good in training and good in the group.”

Tuchel has admitted that he is concerned about the output of his forwards.

England captain Harry Kane is having another red-hot season with goals but Tuchel voiced concerns about the numbers of his other forwards like Bukayo Saka , Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze among many others.

Three Lions boss Tuchel said: “I understand the point. I love my players. I really love the quality of our players, especially the offensive players but the numbers, the pure numbers of our players on the wing and wherever – except for Harry – are not the outstanding numbers we would normally expect.

“So what is the reason for that? Is it according to the league that the defenders are so strong that it’s difficult and it’s difficult to score and assist.

“I would love them to have more numbers, meaning Bukayo, Noni, Ebs, Anthony Gordon, even Cole Palmer, even Morgan Rogers. Not Jude but Phil Foden . Who is producing, like Harry, these outstanding numbers? Who’s deciding games? It’s just a fact and tells me that we have to do it as a team.”

Tuchel admits England will not be among the “heavy favourites” at the World Cup because of their record against top opponents.

The only top two teams England have failed to beat under Tuchel are Senegal and Uruguay and the England boss has therefore has yet to beat a side from the top 20. Japan are 19th in the FIFA rankings while England’s first World Cup opponents Croatia are 11th.

Tuchel said: “I wasn’t aware but it plays to my narrative that we don’t arrive as heavy favourites in America. It’s just how it is. But we will arrive as competitors for the cup and we have the right to believe and to dream and we wanna make it possible.

“I wasn’t aware and in tournaments it can be a huge factor that involvement in the league and cups can be very tiring. This is maybe one of the reasons in tournaments and we will face it. It’s just the reality.”