With less than two weeks until the 2026 World Cup kicks off, England are stepping up training in Florida. According to multiple English media reports, head coach Thomas Tuchel has largely settled on his starting lineup thinking for the opening match against Croatia—Manchester City veteran John Stones is expected to start at centre-back. The news has once again pushed England’s centre-back selection debate into the spotlight.
Signals in the squad numbers
As the World Cup squad numbers were released, observers began piecing together Tuchel’s starting lineup from the details. Stones was handed number 5, and journalist Henry Winter posted photos of him training in West Palm Beach on Tuesday on social media, writing: “Stones trained at West Palm Beach today and is expected to start against Croatia in Dallas. This moment carries real weight.”
For England fans, the story is more than tactical speculation. Winter specifically recalled Stones’ 2014 World Cup experience: that year he trained in Miami but ended up on the bench, came on once as a substitute against Ecuador, and then flew home early. Twelve years on, he has 85 caps for the Three Lions and has gone from fringe player to a potential core figure in the back line entrusted with the opening match.
Group L: A stiff test from the off
England have been drawn in Group L alongside Croatia, Ghana and Panama. According to the latest FIFA rankings, England sit fourth, Croatia 11th, Panama 33rd and Ghana 74th. Croatia may no longer be the runner-up calibre side they were in 2018, but they are still regarded as England’s toughest opponent in the group — a stiff test from the off. If Tuchel really does start Stones, he would effectively be using the opening match of the tournament to gauge both his form and the level of trust placed in him.
From a structural standpoint, the pressure to advance from the group is far from negligible. The Three Lions are widely seen as one of the favourites to win the title, yet a World Cup opener often sets the psychological tempo for an entire campaign: win it, and there is more scope for rotation and tactical tweaks down the line; if the starting lineup stirs unrest within the squad, the consequences will show up on the standings straight away.
Centre-back debate: form versus experience
The controversy is not about whether Stones “can play”, but whether “he should play now”. For years he has been a byword for stability at the back for England, but injuries this season have sharply reduced his minutes at Manchester City, leaving him more often in a state of being “available but not quite at his best rhythm”.
By contrast, Marc Guéhi and Aston Villa centre-back Ezri Konsa have been more eye-catching for club and country of late, and the understanding they have shown when paired together has already won over England supporters.
If Stones starts, Konsa is more likely to begin on the bench — which, for Villa fans and those tracking Premier League form, does feel somewhat counterintuitive. Tuchel is clearly not selecting “the two most in-form players in the league right now”; he is backing experience, game-reading and dressing-room standing ahead of the tournament. The trouble is, the World Cup is not a friendly — every call on the starting XI is magnified into a direct test of a player’s mentality.
Tuchel’s selection: controversy and trust in tandem
Stones is only one piece of Tuchel’s squad picture for this World Cup. Former England captain Rooney said on talkSPORT recently that Tuchel made three “controversial” decisions, including leaving out Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and in-form Morgan Gibbs-White. Rooney admitted that some individual picks could have been made differently, but still chose to back Tuchel: “We used to criticise coaches for only selecting the biggest names — this time he took a different path, and I hope it pays off.”
Former manager Sam Allardyce also criticised some of Tuchel’s call-ups. In the court of public opinion, support and scepticism have risen almost in tandem — precisely the familiar pre-tournament atmosphere around England: every squad and starting XI is framed as either a “Tuchel gamble” or “long-term squad-building logic.”
Captain Harry Kane publicly backed his coach. He recalled working under Tuchel at Bayern Munich, saying he appreciates his personality, tactical approach and the way he brought the best out of him, and believes Tuchel has carried those methods into the national team setup. Kane made clear that the team’s objective is to win the title — amid the noise, the attitude of key players often steadies the squad more than any transfer rumour.
Outside view: Koeman and set pieces
England may not be dealing with the pressure solely in-house. Ronald Koeman, manager of Netherlands, a potential opponent at this tournament, said recently that he expects the overall intensity of this World Cup to be slightly below top-tier club match-ups, and suggested England might prioritise set-piece tactics much like Arsenal. For Tuchel, this is both opposition intelligence and a reminder to England: if Stones and other experienced aerial and positional centre-backs are deployed from the opening match, set-piece play at both ends could become a direct barometer for the starting line-up’s value.
A few points to watch before the Dallas opener
Stones' contract with Manchester City expires this month, and the World Cup may be his last major-tournament window representing England while still a City player—off-pitch narrative and on-pitch role stacked together, giving the words "expected starter" an extra layer of emotional weight.
For fans, what matters most in the days ahead is not just the moment the starting XI is officially confirmed, but also the joint-training details from West Palm Beach to Dallas: whether Konsa and Guehi continue to be grouped with the first team in competitive drills, who takes the primary target at set pieces, and whether Kane's front line can turn possession dominance into goals—all of which will, in reverse, validate why Tuchel chose experience over form.
If Stones does start in Dallas and plays through the key phases, the debate will ease for now; if Croatia exploit his mobility to repeatedly attack the space behind him, Tuchel will face his first real tactical examination of this World Cup. With a little over a week until kickoff, England no longer have much room to "wait and see"—the lineup for the opener is Tuchel's first statement to the entire tournament.
