England team LEAKED by Thomas Tuchel a week before Croatia clash

Editor F365 15 Jun 2026 11:30 AM

Marc Guehi and Marcus Rashford DROPPED

England are about to DROP two players who were not in Thomas Tuchel’s last starting XI. Nope, not having that.

But we should feel lucky that England are playing at all after their LOCKDOWN.

Marc drop

We’re hitting that critical point before an England game where we must pretend that a) we know the starting XI and b) somebody – preferably a big-name player, preferably a big-name black player – has been ‘dropped’.

‘Thomas Tuchel’s England XI for World Cup opener revealed as Marcus Rashford is dropped & Bukayo Saka major fitness blow’ is The Sun headline.

Points of order: Can you ‘drop’ a player who did not start the last game? Can you ‘drop’ a player who has started only four of England’s 10 games this season?

Mediawatch would say ‘no’ and ‘no’ and then point out that the England XI that has been ‘revealed’ by the Mail is the same one that faced Costa Rica last week. Just as we always suspected. The England XI was not so much ‘revealed’ as ‘played on the actual pitch’.

The Daily Mail has claimed that the German boss has made his decision over who will start the first game against Croatia.

Tuchel is thought to have dropped Marcus Rashford from the left wing in favour of Anthony Gordon.

Though the report has suggested that Tuchel does not want dropped players to be downbeat, as they will likely still get minutes due to the five allowed substitutions.

But how does he want those players to feel who have not been ‘dropped’ but have just been kept out of the team by those who played well v Costa Rica? How should they feel? It’s really not clear.

So to the Mail we go and Mediawatch is always intrigued whenever Craig Hope writes about Jude Bellingham.

Sources noted how Bellingham was first off the plane behind captain Harry Kane when England arrived in Kansas City on Saturday, and there is a feeling around camp that he has moved ahead of Morgan Rogers in the attacking-midfield position.

And there we have it. Not content with being the far better player than Rogers – which gave Mediawatch the ‘feeling’ that he might be ahead in the pecking order – Bellingham then got himself off the plane behind Kane. If only Rashford had stumbled upon that tactic, he might not have been ~~dropped~~ kept out of the team.

Leak town

‘Major England team news leaks ahead of seismic World Cup opener against Croatia’ – GB News.

‘Thomas Tuchel to drop England star against Croatia with first-team details leaked’ – Metro.

Man names England team on Wednesday; same England team is ‘leaked’ five days later.

HOW THE F*** DID THIS GET OUT?

Ninth name on the England teamsheet

That Metro headline is actually about Marc Guehi rather than Marcus Rashford. And here’s The Sun‘s take on that selection:

England star considered one of first names on teamsheet ‘could be DROPPED by Thomas Tuchel’ in shock decision

Now Guehi might be ‘considered one of the first names on teamsheet’ by ‘digital sports reporter’ Tony Robertson but he is not filling in the teamsheet; that job belongs to Thomas Tuchel, and Guehi is only the ninth-most-used England player under the German.

He also did not play against Costa Rica last week so cannot be DROPPED.

Oh and ‘rocking the England teamsheet’ is really not a thing. Stop it.

The answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind

But we should probably feel deeply grateful that any England players are alive to take to the pitch on Wednesday against Croatia, so close did they come to death.

This is the actual front page of The Sun on Monday morning:

▫ 3 Lions on alert

▫Shaken England stars put in LOCKDOWN for an hour after ‘tornado’ with 80mph winds felled trees near their World Cup base
▫Nick Parker
▫https://t.co/5BNSxrbjXW @TheSun #frontpagestoday #UK 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/tq6NHhCvf1

— 𝙵𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚝 𝙿𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚜 𝚃𝚘𝚍𝚊𝚢 📰 (@ukpapers) June 15, 2026