2026 World Cup: How Thomas Tuchel's England are shaping up ahead of the tournament

At the time of writing, 13 of the 48 spots on offer for the 2026 World Cup have already been nabbed, including the three reserved for tournament co-hosts Mexico, Canada and the USA.

Defending champions Argentina will also be present, in addition to Brazil, Ecuador, New Zealand, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Iran, Jordan and Uzbekistan, the latter two of whom are making their belated competition debuts.

As far as England are concerned, Thomas Tuchel's men have unsurprisingly assumed control of proceedings in Group K of the UEFA qualifiers, making the perfect start on face value with nine points from a possible nine, six goals scored and none conceded.

However, it has been far from plain sailing for the 1966 champions thus far, as a nervous 1-0 win over minnows Andorra papered over some cracks, and a subsequent friendly loss to Senegal a few days later in June saw those cracks re-emerge.

With less than a year to go until the global gathering begins, Sports Mole looks at how England are shaping up ahead of the 2026 World Cup in the USA.

As the England Women's and Under-21 teams go for European Championship glory this summer - both aiming to defend the continental crowns they won in the previous editions - the senior men's countdown to World Cup 2026 is well and truly on.

In exactly one year's time, the first match of the next global gathering will take place in Mexico on June 11, 2026, the commencement of a whopping 48 teams pursuing planetary stardom.

On the back of two torturous near misses at Euro 2020 and Euro 2024, with a mediocre quarter-final exit at the 2022 World Cup sandwiched in between, England turned to a serial silverware specialist to finally get them over the line in North America.

Sir Gareth Southgate ostensibly took his country as far as he could, vacating the hotseat for 2020-21 Champions League winner Thomas Tuchel, but the ex-Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain boss has already found himself on the wrong side of history.

Familiarity over form before stress-free opening wins

As will always be the case with any non-English manager to take the reins, Tuchel's appointment was met with scepticism and criticism in some corners, but his tremendous trophy record seemingly spoke for itself.

Penning an 18-month contract with the FA, Tuchel was evidently sworn in for one reason and one reason alone, to end 60 years of World Cup hurt and allow England's next 'golden generation' to fulfil their full potential.

When he first faced the media as England manager, Tuchel vowed to conduct his work with "passions and emotions", while also admitting that he felt like a teenager again, as the job brought the 51-year-old's "young me" alive again.

However, from a young Tuchel to an old flame, the German's first squad announcement quickly raised eyebrows owing to the inclusion of an ageing Jordan Henderson, who granted is a regular fixture in the Ajax midfield following his short-lived Saudi Arabia adventure.

The former Liverpool's captain's inclusion harked back to the more forgettable aspects of the Southgate reign, though; many a time the latter was lambasted for siding with familiarity over form, staying loyal to his 'favourites' while other talented prospects were restricted to the periphery.

Thankfully for Tuchel - who labelled Henderson the "glue that makes everything special" when defending the midfielder's selection - he was blessed with two straightforward showdowns for his managerial debut in March, when the Three Lions strode past Albania and Latvia by an aggregate score of 5-0.

In addition to Harry Kane customarily netting in both fixtures, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Eberechi Eze's strikes offered genuine hope that the new crop of Lions could gel well with the experienced members of the pride.

However, some glass-half-empty supporters believed that England should have blown away their opponents by a bigger scoreline, and those who made the sojourn to Barcelona earlier this month echoed such sentiments at a much greater volume.

Critics right to question England's World Cup credentials

Minnows Andorra setting up in a defence-heavy structure was to be expected, but even an experimental England side would have ordinarily been backed to breach their opponents' backline a few times en route to a routine qualifying victory.

Alas, Kane was forced to bail his nation out of trouble yet again, and with the scoreline reading 1-0 heading into the last knockings, a plucky Andorra remarkably did not give up hope of salvaging the unlikeliest of points in Catalonia.

As uninspiring as that victory was, it kept England top of World Cup Qualifying Group K with a 100% record, six goals scored and none conceded. Of the six sections that are already underway, the Three Lions are one of just two teams to both win all their games and also keep a clean sheet in every one, alongside the Netherlands.

As Jose Mourinho once famously alluded to, though, statistics do not always paint the full picture in football, and a 7-1 destruction of Andorra would have been far preferable to a narrow success with a shut-out.

Tuchel largely went back to tried-and-tested against Senegal, but after Kane delivered for his under-fire coach yet again, the Euro 2024 runners-up were slain by a Lions of Teranga unit who simply wanted it more at the City Ground.

If offering Henderson a place in his squad was not already cause for criticism, starting a declining Kyle Walker - who was at fault for Senegal's equaliser - was, and Tuchel also delivered a slightly spiky response when asked why he only threw Ivan Toney on in the 88th minute.

England's men's team had never been beaten by an African nation before Senegal stunned Nottinghamshire, and neither Tuchel nor his players were under any illusions that Tuesday's result was unacceptable, plain and simple.

Extenuating circumstances can be taken into account; some players are injured, while others are running on empty after a gruelling domestic season and some have to partake in the revamped Club World Cup, although other top-level European nations are in the exact same boat.

England's spot in the globe's best competition should not be up for debate. But with a couple more forgettable displays against beatable teams in the autumn, their World Cup-winning credentials certainly will be.

Written by
Ben Knapton