In an ideal world, the only selection conundrum before England face Panama would be whether to rest Harry Kane or let the striker use a dead rubber against Group L’s fourth seeds as a chance to keep up with Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappé and the other Golden Boot contenders.
Yet any hope Tuchel had of giving the reserves a run out in New Jersey surely disappeared when his side drew 0-0 with Ghana on Tuesday and failed to win the group with a game to spare. Now complications remain. The schedule is brutal for England, who face a potential run of four games in 13 days, and Tuchel has a dilemma. This, after all, was surely the one that Ollie Watkins and Ivan Toney had marked down as a rare day off for Kane. But England still have to clinch top spot, so weighing up whether to get Kane to ease off before the last 32 is not as big a concern for Tuchel as working out how much of a risk to take with his rotation.
