Michael Owen Criticizes Tuchel's England Squad Choices Ahead of 2026 World Cup

England will begin their 2026 World Cup journey against Croatia in Dallas on Wednesday, with Thomas Tuchel aiming to end a six-decade wait for a major title.

The team reached the quarter-finals in Qatar and finished as runners-up in the last two European Championships under Gareth Southgate. Yet, the Football Association has placed its hopes on Tuchel, a coach with a record of multiple trophies, for this tournament in North America.

Michael Owen, a former England striker and Liverpool and Manchester United player, voiced skepticism about the Three Lions' chances of securing their first major international trophy since 1966. Owen shared his perspective exclusively with Daily Star Sport, also noting his role as the UK face of Casino.org, a website that helps British users find suitable online casinos.

“I'm not that hot on them, to be honest. Obviously we've got a chance, and there's a handful of teams that have got a chance, but you can't get over the conditions, like 40-odd degrees and the heat and the humidity,” Owen said.

He added, “I wouldn't mind if we were a counter-attacking team, and it might be suitable for us to do that, but people expect us to have the ball and to press and do all these things, and to do that in that heat, I’m not sure.”

Owen also questioned the claim that this is England's best tournament squad in years. “Someone said to me last night, this is the best team we've had in a tournament in years. And I was like is it? I mean it's a good team, but I just think it's a solid team, one that has got a chance. But it's certainly not individually better than France or one or two others.”

He further criticized Tuchel's squad choices, highlighting the omission of key players such as Cole Palmer, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Phil Foden, Harry Maguire, and Luke Shaw.

“I think when you've got a big squad, when you've got all those players that you can choose you can afford to take some risks, bring some maverick players,” Owen stated.

“I definitely would have taken Cole Palmer, maybe even Foden, obviously Harry Maguire not going was a shock. I’d take Trent too with his free kicks and creativity.”

Owen emphasized the importance of squad depth, saying, “I've gone on record before saying I think the squad is what's going win or lose us the competition. If I were the manager, I'd just have filled the squad with all of those, because that's where we're stronger in our country at the moment.”

He proposed a strategy of extensive player rotation: “I'd have filled the squad with all of those players and literally make a change at halftime. I don't care if someone scored a hat trick, change all three at half-time, every single game, keep them fresh.”

“Substitutes will win this World Cup, freshness, fatigue is going to be the big question mark, and I'd just rotate the hell out of those positions all the time,” Owen concluded.

England will also face Ghana and Panama in their remaining group matches before advancing toward the knockout stages.