The makeup of Thomas Tuchel’s final 26-man squad for the World Cup this summer certainly created a stir.Within minutes of Friday’s flamboyant squad reveal, all delivered to the backdrop of The Beatles’ Come Together, alternative starting line-ups were being posted across social media of the players Tuchel chose not to name for the tournament starting in a couple of weeks in the United States, Canada and Mexico.Some of those omitted could certainly make a case for feeling hard done by. It was a difficult selection to get it down to 26 names, and Tuchel certainly has had more attractive options than previous England managers and head coaches. But not everyone left out could feel too harshly treated.Harry Maguire made his disappointment very clear. The centre-half, who has played for England 66 times over the past nine years, had enjoyed a return to form in the latter part of this season at Manchester United after Michael Carrick replaced Ruben Amorim as head coach in January and said he was “shocked and gutted” at his omission. His mother, Zoe, went as far as to state she was “disgusted” by the decision on social media.
I was confident I could of played a major part this summer for my country after the season I’ve had. I’ve been left shocked and gutted by the decision.
