2026 World Cup: How Thomas Tuchel's England could line up for first game

By Ben Knapton, Senior Reporter

Published: June 11 2025 | 14:25

Last updated: June 11 2025 | 16:05

Sports Mole looks at how England could line up for their first World Cup match with one year to go until the tournament begins.

The 12-month countdown is on to the 2026 World Cup, as the opening match of the quadrennial global gathering will be fought in exactly one year's time.

No fewer than 48 teams will be vying to hoist the 18-karat gold trophy aloft, and barring a qualification disaster, Thomas Tuchel's England will be one of them.

While we must stress that the Three Lions are yet to book their ticket to North America, they proudly boast a perfect record of nine points from nine in their preliminary section so far, and there ought to be no doubts about their customary place in the planet's finest sporting competition.

With one year to go before the 2026 World Cup gets underway, Sports Mole looks at what England's starting XI for their opening contest could be.

While Dean Henderson may now be showing off his shiny FA Cup winners' medal, Jordan Pickford's status as England's undisputed number one should not come under any threat, save for a disastrous 2025-26 campaign with Everton.

Moving on from the days of Kyle Walker and Luke Shaw, Tuchel could face the best kind of dilemmas in the full-back areas, where Myles Lewis-Skelly, Lewis Hall, Tino Livramento, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Reece James will all put their names in the hat.

If Lewis-Skelly continues on the same upwards trajectory, the Arsenal academy graduate has our thumbs-up to become England's first-choice left-back for the World Cup, although Tuchel will face quite the quandary on the opposite side.

Alexander-Arnold is expected to function as a wing-back in Xabi Alonso's 3-4-3 shape at Real Madrid, whereas James should continue to operate in a four-man defence at Chelsea and has already earned his England stars under Tuchel.

However, James's next spell on the sidelines always appears to be just around the corner, so a less injury-prone Alexander-Arnold could get the nod as part of a four-man backline also comprising the steadfast Marc Guehi and stalwart Harry Maguire.

Even a 70% Declan Rice would be one of the first names on the teamsheet, and if Palace lynchpin Adam Wharton goes from strength to strength again in 2025-26, expect him to emerge as a serious contender to start alongside the Arsenal man.

A Rice-Wharton double pivot would allow Jude Bellingham to strut his stuff in the number 10 slot, likely with Bukayo Saka and the effervescent Eberechi Eze either side of him as Cole Palmer and Phil Foden are restricted to the fringes.

Already boasting eight World Cup goals from the 2018 and 2022 editions, Harry Kane needs to strike three times in 2026 to become England's all-time leading scorer at the men's tournament, surpassing Gary Lineker in the process.