‘England have the players to win the World Cup – it’ll be tough for Thomas Tuchel to do a bad job, with the squad he has at his disposal’ Former Three Lions winger backs new boss after gentle qualifying draw

When are the international breaks? England's German Thomas Tuchel arrives to attend the draw for the 2026 Fifa World Cup European qualifiers at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, on December 13, 2024.
Thomas Tuchel (Image credit: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)

England’s new boss Thomas Tuchel was in Zurich yesterday as the Three Lions discovered their World Cup qualifying opponents – and he couldn’t have been disappointed.

After reaching the final of the Euros this summer, England will be heavy favourites to qualify for the World Cup with ease, after being drawn into a group with Serbia, Albania, Latvia and Andorra.

Serbia were their first opponents at the Euros, when Jude Bellingham netted the only goal to give the Three Lions victory.

A talented squad

Jude Bellingham celebrates after scoring for England against Serbia at Euro 2024

Jude Bellingham (Image credit: Alamy)

England never totally clicked into gear in Germany this summer, but Shaun Wright-Phillips believes they have more than enough talent in their squad to be serious contenders to win the 2026 World Cup.

With the likes of Bellingham, Harry Kane, Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden at their disposal, plus the ever improving Cole Palmer, the former Three Lions winger thinks they should be confident.

Shaun Wright-Phillips celebrates a goal for Manchester City against Aston Villa in November 2004.

Shaun Wright-Phillips (Image credit: Getty Images)

“I think we have the players to do it,” he said, speaking on behalf of casino.org. “The big thing will be getting that front four to play as they do at club level.

“It's something we’ve talked about with England for many years, and it will be interesting to see Tuchel’s first team selection.

“Will he pick Jude Bellingham at number 10, or will he play him alongside Declan Rice and give the 10 to Jack Grealish, Phil Foden or Cole Palmer? That’s arguably the biggest call Tuchel will need to make.”

The England job has previously been called the impossible job, but Wright-Phillips thinks it’s not far off impossible to do a bad job with the Three Lions these days, given the players available.

“I always say to my friends, it’s such a hard role,” he said. “It’s equally tough though to do a bad job there, because of the amount of talent available and the pool of players, with so many team and individual achievements for their clubs.”

Chris Flanagan
Senior Staff Writer

Chris joined FourFourTwo in 2015 and has reported from 20 countries, in places as varied as Jerusalem and the Arctic Circle. He's interviewed Pele, Zlatan and Santa Claus (it's a long story), as well as covering the World Cup, Euro 2020 and the Clasico. He previously spent 10 years as a newspaper journalist, and completed the 92 in 2017.