England Senior National Team General Discussion Thread

When does tuchel name his squad

 

I presume Next Friday.

 

The culture of Latin American football may be partly European, but the main titles for these national teams were won by players of African descent, as well as those with Indigenous ancestry.
A striking example is Uruguay. José Leandro Andrade, known as the “black diamond”, made a huge contribution to the success of Uruguayan football. And in 1950, Obdulio Varela became the great leader of the national team that brought Uruguay the World Cup victory. His unshakable mentality and ability to lead the team played a crucial role in the historic success.
In Brazil, all titles were won by teams with a mixed composition, where most players had Africanorigins. These footballers stood out for their physical strength, power, speed and endurance as well as their special style of play: they acted without fear and delivered beautiful football, combining technique with improvisation.
In Argentina, Diego Maradona single‑handedly brought the country the World Cup victory in 1986. Notably, he also had Indigenous roots. In 2022, the Argentina national team achieved success again: its squad once more featured a mix of European and Indigenous backgrounds.
These victories were not achieved by “pure” Europeans. Of course, European football culture had a certain influence it provided organisational foundations and discipline. But the decisive contribution to the successes was made by players who were mentally and physically strong. It was their will to win, character and skill that became the key to triumph.

 

England striker Callum Wilson, 34, has agreed a new one-year deal at West Ham just weeks after his departure looked imminent. (Telegraph - subscription required)

Manchester City are closing in on Newcastle United’s England full-back Tino Livramento, 23. (Football Insider), external

Newcastle are showing a strong interest in signing versatile English midfielder Marcus Tavernier, 26, from Bournemouth. (Teamtalk)

Manchester United are prioritising a midfielder this summer with Sandro Tonali, Adam Wharton and Elliot Anderson among targets being considered - Daily Express.

Man Utd have drawn up a stunning five-man shortlist to replace Marcus Rashford, including a PSG ace and a Premier League rival - The Sun.

Jack Grealish has vowed to be back "stronger than ever" after posting a series of snaps from the early weeks of his injury recovery - The Sun.

 

If you're referring specifically to ancestry, then yes. As of today, football in these three countries is a hybrid of European/Native peoples. Particularly Brazil is more of a mix of the Afro-Brazilian players than the other two.
But Brazil's football culture (not it's racial democraphic) is heavily influenced by the South of the Country, which is very European. The best Brazilian players come from poorer backgrounds in the South of the country; R9, Kaka, Ronaldinho, Zico, Falcao Pele, all came from the South.

North of Brazil is heavily African influenced and the South is the most European region; the Southern clubs; Flamengo, Palmeiras, Corinthians, Sao Paulo, Santos all dominate. All clubs were invented by English/German/Italian immigrants

Argentina and Uruguay are culturally very European. Their players are largely of mixed blood due to Argentina being a mix of natives plus European immigrants. But Argentina and Uruguay are often considered the most European countries in South America. In the early 20th century, a lot of English/Scottish immigrants moved to Argentina and setup football clubs in the South of the country. They even play a lot of Rugby there in the South of Argentina because of the heavy English/Scottish influence. Newells Old Boys (where Messi, Bielsa and Pochettino come from) was created by Rob Newell (who moved to Rosario from England). Then a shit load of immigrants moved there from Northern Italy and that's why football exploded in this part of the world.

That southern cone of South America; Southern Brazil, Southern Argentina and Uruguay is the most European influenced part of Latin America and had the heaviest migration from Europe and that's why their football Ecosystems evolved to look as well established as they did in Northern England and Northern Italy. Because they were built by the same people (who migrated).

 

There's also around 70,000 people of Welsh origin in Patagonia, and a few thousand who still speak Patagonian Welsh.

 

I've heard about them , fascinating story.

The ties between Britain and Argentina actually used to be very strong, but (tragically) got ruined by the Falklands war

 

Their footballers have aways done well over here. Its shame that the two countries don't get on better.

 

Yeah, there's some fascinating links from the past. There was significant investment from the UK in the beef industry in both Argentina and Uruguay from the 19th century. In the late Victorian and Edwardian periods, UK/Argentinian trade was on a par with UK/India. Harrods had their only shop outside of London in Buenos Aires, where there's a clear British influence outside of sport, such as on architecture and place names (there are districts called Hurlingham, Temperley, Wilde and Banfield). The Wiki article gives a lot of detail. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Argentines

 

There's tons of history there linking back to football clubs being established by immigrants

There's a town on the Argie/Uruguay border named fray bentos, linked to the bentos tinned pies we get here off the supermarket shelf's

Basically the Brits moved there as cattle ranchers - then later built factories and turned the beef into steak & kidney pies, to ship back to Britain

Then of course, the railway and factory workers established football clubs (like they did in Britain and Italy)

 

A British industrialist class generated a significant part of Argentina's wealth in those days, then they nationalised those industries, embraced rampant political populism and descended into being a perennial political and economic basket case. Argentina is often citied as an example of how wealthy nations can decline. I look at the political and economic landscape in Britain since Brexit and worry this could be our fate in the coming decades. The rise of Reform and the Greens is a probable foreshawdowing of the direction of travel.

 

i think about the same. on the daily. i don't believe it was a single event (a la Brexit). it has been multiple decades of political mismanagement that has accelerated our relative global decline. we are economically fragile and over-taxed. the bloat that public programmes put on the country should be of real concern. there has been no political spine for far too long, with the current party in power only accelerating that. ironically, when Johnson called out the London assembly for being "great supine protoplasmic invertebrate jellies", that is a marker for many a politician in Westminster. sad, disheartening, pathetic, whatever you want to call it - we have not shown up well on the global stage in recent weeks. the far left leadership of Spain was far more committed than Great Britain. on the cultural front, less said there the better.

 

Polarisation of politics is the same in nearly every Western nation. The centre ground needs to actually acknowledge the crises that have been created in the last few decades and provide some solutions outside of "the status quo, but better managed". At best that'll only provide some version of managed decline.

I'm not even sure there are many moderate solutions to the combination of rampant inequality, climate change and declining fertility rates. They're major crises of capitalism that probably demand radical solutions.

 

yup. this is why you see each end of the political spectrum gaining traction.

you need a heavy hand to shift the country back in one direction or another.

manage Great Britain more like a Fortune 100 business and you'll see more positive outcomes. easier said than done though.

 

I'm a bit more optimistic than you. There's a cultural shift happening where sports are taking over from movies and TV shows as the content people are consuming. At the centre of that is the PL. It has huge fan bases in China and India.With all that will come money.

 

Yes, Fray Bentos is the town where a meat-packing factory was built named "Frigorífico Anglo del Uruguay". Fray Bentos Corned Beef was a big deal in the UK when I was growing up. But then there was a typhoid outbreak in Scotland that was traced to a different meat-packing factory owned by the same company. I think it was downhill after that and that factory is closed. Due to several company and brand name sales, the current Fray Bentos brand has no connection with its origins in Uruguay. As I kid I was always fascinated by the name "Fray Bentos" but never knew the Uruguayan connection until more recently.

 

Walker-Peters, Scarles and Bowen started for West Ham. Wilson and Mayers were used from the bench. Herrick, Kilman and Potts were unused.
Lewis-Potter and Henderson started for Brentford. Donovan was used from the bench. Shield and Stephenson

Bowen scored twice (One Pen) .

Bowen, Wilson and Lewis-Potter all scored their penalties in the shootout.

 

🚨 Tino Livramento is not close to joining Manchester City in a summer deal, despite reports in last 24h.

Nothing concrete, advanced or close so far. City wanted Livramento one year ago but no fresh talks so far.#MCFC still expected to sign a RB. 👀

🎥 https://t.co/OxDJpfmc3w pic.twitter.com/7uPUjDYKAf

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) March 9, 2026

 

Juventus are interested in signing Tottenham and England full-back Djed Spence, 25, in the summer. (Gazzetta dello Sport - in Italian)

Newcastle and England defender Tino Livramento, 23, is not close to agreeing to join Manchester City in a summer deal despite speculation. (Fabrizio Romano), external

West Ham striker Callum Wilson has verbally agreed terms on a new one-year contract despite Celtic's interest in the 34-year-old Englishman. (Sky Sports)

 

Colwill is taking part in Chelsea's open training today, which is great news. He was very good last season and was probably one of the best defenders in the world. He reached his peak in the CWC game against PSG — he was excellent in pressing and playing out from the back, providing an assist to Palmer with his weak right foot. If Tuchel needs a left-footed defender, Colwill is the best option.

 

calma

 

If he's fit I'd definitely take him as our 4th defender. He's our best ball playing centreback. His break the line passes. I'd take stones Guehi konsa and colwill

 

I wouldn’t get too carried away just yet, it’s open training and he’s presumably doing rehab work. I would still say it’s a long shot he goes to the World Cup after being out all season unless he can get in the last month or so playing regularly with the senior Chelsea team.

 

He was soft tissue injury prone before his ACL. It be quite the risk taking him.

 

Kyle Walker has retired from international football

A message from @kylewalker2 to you #ThreeLions fans ❤ pic.twitter.com/Gv8RSj8sjy

— England (@England) March 10, 2026

https://www.englandfootball.com/art...r-announces-international-retirement-20261003
Wonder if Tuchel was waiting to see if Livramento was going to be back before advising him what to do?