What next for England? Thomas Tuchel's selection headaches and tactical challenges after the World Cup

With the heartbreak still fresh and the emotions still raw, it’s probably still a little too early for anyone invested in English football to look back at the 2026 World Cup campaign with any kind of objectivity – but in any case, the real challenge isn’t looking back and picking through the bones of another near miss, but looking forward to figure out what needs to change.

Thomas Tuchel may have been appointed as the official fall guy for another failure after his switch to an ultra-defensive back three backfired disastrously against Argentina, but having someone to blame won’t help England in the build-up to Euro 2028. So what does come next for the Three Lions and their manager?

What next for Thomas Tuchel as he leads England into another two-year cycle?

One key decision appears to have been made already, and in reality was probably made before the semi-final against Argentina even took place: Thomas Tuchel is staying on as England head coach. The FA have resisted the temptation to be reactionary, which is probably a good instinct even if the circumstances are unusual.

In reaching the final four, England exceeded minimum expectations and a narrow defeat to the reigning champions at such a late stage of a World Cup wouldn’t normally create any serious questions about the coach’s future. That being said, it’s never been so explicitly the coach’s fault before.

That in itself creates a significant problem because while keeping Tuchel on is the rationalist approach, the players themselves are also keenly aware that it was the manager’s decisions that cost them.

Tuchel’s next task – once he’s got Saturday’s third-play play-off out of the way – is to rebuild the faith of a squad whose immediate reaction to questions after the final whistle was to wonder aloud why they were made to drop so deep and to play in such a passive manner in the closing stages.

Harry Kane and Marc Guéhi both queried Tuchel’s approach in the aftermath of the Argentina match and while their comments were hardly rebellious, it’s hard not to wonder about what happens the next time that Tuchel has to take a bold tactical gamble in a critical game. Will the players listen to him and respect his ideas as they did before? Will they carry doubts about the manager’s decision-making into the European Championship cycle? That wouldn’t be an ideal starting point.

If nothing else, however, the players in the England squad are generally exceptionally professional. They will probably get on with the job in front of them and follow tactical instructions to the letter even if they have any linger doubts. So perhaps Tuchel’s biggest task is not to win back his squad’s faith but simply to learn from his own mistake. It was a major misjudgement and one that can’t be repeated.

For better or worse, however, all signs suggest that Tuchel will be England manager for two more years and will lead us into a major tournament on home soil. Despite the capitulation in Atlanta, he will embark on the campaign having had the majority of his decisions at the World Cup, both strategic and selectorial, vindicated by results. The staffing situation will be the same ahead of Euro 2028. But will the players be any different?

Tuchel has difficult selection decisions ahead of him

In the long term, the biggest single worry facing England is how and when they might be compelled to replace Kane, who has already admitted that he doesn’t know whether he’ll still be playing for his country by the time the 2030 World Cup rolls around – but that’s a problem for another day. For now, he is still at the peak of his powers and will lead the Three Lions into another major tournament cycle.

By the time the next European Championship starts he will be 34, but given that he’s not a striker who leans heavily on his physical attributes there seems to be no reason that he should decline over the next two seasons. After that, however, all bets are off. Perhaps he, like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, can play at the highest level until he’s pushing 40. Perhaps not.

Beyond Kane there is more uncertainty than Tuchel might like, particularly thanks to lingering fitness issues. Bukayo Saka, for instance, has been struggling physically for much of the last two seasons and his damaged Achilles seems to have cost him the sudden burst of acceleration which made him so difficult to defend against. The extent of his role is doubtful going forward, with Reece James in much the same boat after four years of persistent hamstring problems.

With so many of England’s likely right-back options struggling physically, Tuchel has difficult choices ahead of him. One wonders at what point he grits his teeth and goes back to Trent Alexander-Arnold, a player he whose defending he doesn’t trust and whose attitude in training he has openly questioned.

England’s squad doesn’t require major surgery and likely won’t undergo it, but there is a lot of adjusting and adapting to be done over the coming two years, and many doubts to dispel over individual selection decisions. That’s nothing new, but Tuchel also has the task of finding ways to elevate his team in spite of potential constraints revolving around fitness and, in a few cases, age.

Can Tuchel reshape his defence in a way that makes them more composed against the counter-attack, a source of struggles early in the tournament? Can he find ways to improve the technical acuity of the attack such that they can break down the low blocks which blunted them in several matches? Can he reintegrate talented players such as Cole Palmer and Phil Foden in a manner which achieves that?

Tuchel must find answers to all of these issues while every choice he makes is viewed through a critical lens of his own making. Every idea he comes up with and every decision he makes will be viewed with scepticism in the stands and in the media until he buries the body of the defeat to Argentina – and he probably won’t be able to do that unless England actually win Euro 2028. On a personal level, at least, the next two years will be tough for Tuchel. But then again, when has anything been easy with England?