Thomas Tuchel offers lifeline to three England exiles and makes Ben White promise

There can be no excuses for England slipping up in their World Cup qualifying draw after getting Serbia, Albania, Latvia and Andorra – and Thomas Tuchel knows the pressure is on to deliver glory

Thomas Tuchel has carried on England’s best traditions of getting lucky at a draw.

There can be no excuses for England slipping up in their World Cup qualifying draw after getting Serbia, Albania, Latvia and Andorra. It should provide a comfortable path to the tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada in 2026 and the route suddenly becomes a lot clearer.

England are set to begin their qualifying campaign with a fixture in March, it will also give them scope for a friendly at Wembley that month – Wales is such a strong possibility – and a glamour end-of-season match against the United States in America next June.

It is Tuchel’s first job as an international manager and he will begin by offering a “clean slate” to all players. That could open the door to Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Raheem Sterling if they can rediscover form.

Former Chelsea boss Tuchel also confirmed he will “reach out” to Arsenal ’s Ben White to see if he wants to play for England after the defender turned down a recall having returned home early from the Qatar World Cup.

Tuchel said: “Yes. I will reach out to him. It should be clean and a clean start and a clear narrative. It starts from January. I will be in the stadiums from January. I will also not distract the players and they should just know, ‘OK, the boss is there from January.’

“Then I will of course try to speak to them, but also be respectful to the schedule that they have, because schedule is busy in January, especially in the Premier League.”

Tuchel actually drove the 160 miles from his home in Bavaria to Zurich for the World Cup draw and admitted that he has been “impatient” to get started.

That obviously begs the question as to why he is waiting until January 1 even though he was confirmed as manager in October. He was at pains to stress that he wanted a fresh start for the World Cup qualifying campaign and did not attend the final two Nations League games last month because it would have been a distraction.

Tuchel says he will have his “handover” with Lee Carsley in the coming weeks after the interim boss’s time in charge while also finalising his backroom staff – beyond confirming his No2 Anthony Barry – which he wants to keep as a small group.

“I was in an amazing position before Lee won the matches and I am still in an amazing position because I am privileged to do this job,” said Tuchel.

“I am very proud of and excited to get to the start. I am happy the team delivered, Lee delivered, so it was the right choice to let him finish the job.

“I have watched a lot of football matches and I am ready to go. We have prepared some processes together with my staff and the people who already work in the FA on how we want things done and how things are done because we understand there is already a lot of quality in the building, a lot of determination.

“From January we will be happy and will be in a lot of stadiums watching games live, seeing players and speaking to players, and also getting a feeling for St George’s and the people who work there with all their determination and create an atmosphere that carries us all the way.”

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