Team Dossier: England — 60 years of hurt, one last shot

Sixty years since 1966. Two recent semi-finals. Two Euro finals that ended in penalty agony. If England are going to lift this thing, it will have to be now — and it will have to be here, in North America, with a new manager who was hired precisely because he has no patience for the timid football that kept England close but never close enough.

Thomas Tuchel took the job with one brief: go further than Gareth Southgate did.

Southgate built a tournament machine that was hard to beat and almost impossible to love. Tuchel is the correction. He dropped Cole Palmer and Phil Foden — the two most creative players in the Premier League last season — to make room for press-runners and physical profiles. He recalled Marcus Rashford after a Barcelona revival, brought back Jordan Henderson for a fourth World Cup despite years of exile, and left Trent Alexander-Arnold and Harry Maguire at home despite both expecting to be on the plane. 2

His qualifying record was immaculate — 8 wins, 8 games, zero goals conceded. But the style stayed conservative, and the lack of a settled first XI heading into a World Cup is the question no one has fully answered. 1

GK: Jordan Pickford (Everton), Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace), James Trafford (Man City)

DEF: Reece James, Ezri Konsa, Marc Guehi, John Stones, Dan Burn, Jarell Quansah, Nico O'Reilly, Djed Spence, Tino Livramento

MID: Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham, Eberechi Eze, Elliot Anderson, Kobbie Mainoo, Jordan Henderson, Morgan Rogers

FWD: Harry Kane (c), Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford, Anthony Gordon, Ollie Watkins, Ivan Toney, Noni Madueke

The most debated absences: Palmer, Foden, Alexander-Arnold. Tuchel called it cohesion over creativity. The jury is still out. 3

Harry Kane is England's all-time top scorer and their unconditional axis. At Bayern Munich last season he scored 36 Bundesliga goals in 31 games and helped them win the title. At international level, he needs just two World Cup goals to match Gary Lineker's all-time England record of 10. He is 31. This is almost certainly his last chance. 1

Jude Bellingham is the most talented footballer England have produced in a generation, and the most uncertain starter heading into the tournament. His season at Real Madrid was interrupted by injuries; his best position under Tuchel remains unsettled. If he hits form — actually hits it, not just flashes it — England become a different team. 3

Declan Rice is the skeleton. Arsenal's title-winning midfielder gives England a ball-winner, a press-trigger, and a leader. He has grown into the role Tuchel needs most: a midfielder who runs before he thinks. 3

Eberechi Eze is the wild card. With Palmer and Foden gone, the Arsenal playmaker inherits the creative responsibility. He won the Premier League title with Arsenal, but hasn't delivered at international level yet. June 17 in Dallas will tell us a lot. 3

England won the World Cup once — 1966, at Wembley, as hosts. In the 60 years since, they've reached two semi-finals (1990, 2018) and fallen in the quarter-finals at three others. Two consecutive European Championship finals lost on penalties under Southgate came the closest in that long interim. Tuchel has been hired to close that gap once and for all. 4

England are ranked 4th by FIFA and carry 15/2 odds to win the tournament — third behind France and Brazil in most bookmakers' eyes.

Croatia is the group test — they knocked England out in the 2018 semi-final and Luka Modrić is still in the squad at 40, somehow. Ghana (ranked 74th) and Panama (ranked 33rd) are the games England must win.

If England top Group L, they travel to Atlanta on July 1 for the Round of 16. Finish second and it's Toronto on July 3.

Can Tuchel find a system? He's spent a year watching England play organised but joyless football. The squad has enough to win the World Cup — Kane, Bellingham, and Rice alone form an elite core. But England have been "good enough on paper" for a decade. What this team hasn't shown yet is a clear identity going forward: who sets the tempo, who opens defences, who takes responsibility when the game is tight at 0-0 in the 70th minute.

If Tuchel answers that before June 17, England are a genuine contender. If he's still searching for it in Dallas, they'll get to the quarter-finals and lose — again.