Three Lions’ head coach says it will be “scary to watch TV” in the final weeks of the league calendar
Thomas Tuchel says he is concerned about injuries affecting England’s World Cup preparations, warning it will be “scary” to watch club football in the coming weeks.
England national football team were beaten 1-0 by Japan national football team at Wembley on Tuesday, following a 1-1 draw with Uruguay national football team days earlier.
Tuchel is set to name his 26-man squad soon but is dealing with a number of fitness concerns. Harry Kane was rested as a precaution after a training injury, while Jordan Henderson left the camp early. Several others, including Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Noni Madueke, John Stones and Adam Wharton, were unavailable.
“It will be scary to watch TV on the weekend and throughout, because from now on every muscle injury can mean that a player misses out,” Tuchel said. “It’s one thing if players go, if players gets injured, which is anyway not nice but then Jordan Henderson, who is a key figure for us in camp, is out, Declan Rice is out, Bukayo is out.
“They are captains for their clubs, and they drive the standards. And then Harry Kane drops out so it’s basically the leadership group who is not available. This affects, of course, a group.”
Tuchel said the current issues are still manageable but admitted concern over the next two months. “Everyone gave everything and from now on, of course, still now all these injuries, I think, will be still manageable in the window of time that we have to be invested in club football in May and be ready for the World Cup.
“But from now on, the next eight weeks, I am concerned, of course, and I hope that that everything goes well for the players, that they stay healthy.”
Despite a perfect qualifying campaign, England have now recorded one draw and two defeats against top-ranked opponents under Tuchel. He downplayed the significance of those results.
“The most important [thing] is that we learn from it. This camp will not define us, and we have two months time to digest it, to take the learnings, to nominate our squad, to get players back healthy.
“Hopefully they stay healthy, that we have the full choice, and then we will pursue our dream from June.”
