Thomas Tuchel casts doubt on Phil Foden’s chances of making England’s World Cup squad

Phil Foden is struggling to “have the full impact” in an England shirt and his place in this summer’s World Cup squad is in doubt, Thomas Tuchel has said.

The England manager deployed Foden as a striker in Tuesday night’s friendly match with Japan at Wembley, in the absence of the injured Harry Kane, but the Manchester City player was ineffective and was substituted after 58 minutes having had little influence on the game.

The 1-0 defeat was England’s last before Tuchel names his 26-man squad to take to North America this summer.

There remain a number of positions still to be decided and none more so than the No 10 role, where Tuchel has Jude Bellingham, Morgan Rogers, Cole Palmer and Eberechi Eze to choose from, as well as Foden.

But Foden’s chances would appear to be narrowing after enduring a hard night against Japan. Chances to impress in City’s remaining Premier League games may be few and far between, given how sparingly Pep Guardiola has chosen to use Foden since the turn of the year.

“He tried everything,” Tuchel said, speaking to reporters after the defeat at Wembley. “I would say he was excellent in camp but, yeah, he struggles to show it on the pitch.

“Obviously he didn’t have a lot of minutes for City recently. Then he came to camp with the brightest smile and was so good in training and I thought he will just surprise us and will play with the same verve and excitement but, yeah, he struggles to have the full impact.”

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England manager Thomas Tuchel replaced Phil Foden in the second half (Action Images via Reuters)

Asked whether he could take players who are out of form to North America this summer, Tuchel laughed. “I can,” he said. But when pressed if Foden’s struggles against Japan increased the doubt that he would make the World Cup squad, the manager replied: “Well, it’s not a guarantee that he will come.”

England will next convene at the beginning of June for what Tuchel has described as a “relaxed” training camp in Florida, to acclimatise in the US before heading to their World Cup base in Kansas.

“They will get a week off, the guys who are not involved in the Champions League final, and then we will go very early to the US to prepare us for the heat and the humidity. We will have an early camp that allows us a good mix between free time and also family-friends time, and football, to arrive with excitement when the tournament starts.

“The season is a long, long season this year for the players, because some of them come from the Club World Cup , and it will not end in May. It will end, hopefully, in the middle of July.”

England face warm-up fixtures against New Zealand on 6 June and Costa Rica on 10 June, before their first World Cup match against Croatia in Dallas on 17 June.