England

Here's a reminder of the players Thomas Tuchel currently has at his disposal for tomorrow's World Cup opener against Croatia:

Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford (Everton), Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace), James Trafford (Manchester City)

Defenders: Reece James (Chelsea), Tino Livramento (Newcastle), Marc Guehi (Manchester City), Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), John Stones (Manchester City), Jarell Quansah (Bayer Leverkusen), Nico O'Reilly (Manchester City), Dan Burn (Newcastle), Djed Spence (Tottenham Hotspur)

Midfielders: Declan Rice (Arsenal), Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest), Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), Jordan Henderson (Brentford), Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa), Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United), Eberechi Eze (Arsenal)

Forwards: Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Ivan Toney (Al-Ahli), Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Noni Madueke (Arsenal), Marcus Rashford (Barcelona, on loan from Manchester United), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle)

Who Thomas Tuchel picks as a replacement for Tino Livramento, who is now classed as a major injury doubt for this World Cup, could well give us an insight into his thinking.

One question is whether the England manager picked Livramento as a right-back or left-back, as he has played in both positions.

The inference is, if Trevoh Chalobah is chosen as a replacement, then Tuchel is bringing in cover for the left side of his defence, rather than the right.

Chalobah's regular position is centre-back, but he could provide cover for Dan Burn in that position, if Burn is needed to cover at left-back.

It is also important to note that Djed Spence can play at either right-back or left-back.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Tino Livramento made 29 appearances for Newcastle during the 2025-26 season.

That's a huge step down from the 45 games he played for the Magpies across 2024-25.

Still, it was enough to convince Thomas Tuchel that he needed Livramento on the plane - in spite of his injury record.

Livramento played twice for England during their fantastic World Cup qualifying campaign.

Between appearances against Serbia and Andorra, he made five ball recoveries and completed 59 of his 61 attempted passes.

Image source, Getty Images

Tino Livramento's injury woes go as far back as September, when he was carried off on a stretcher after landing awkwardly after jumping for a header during Newcastle's Premier League defeat by Arsenal.

His knee injury kept him out of five league games before he returned against Manchester City at the end of November - though the problem recurred over the Christmas period.

In January, Livramento limped off during Newcastle's FA Cup win over Bournemouth with a significant hamstring injury. He returned at the start of March in Newcastle's FA Cup defeat by Manchester City.

But in April, Livramento was back in the medical room - this time with a thigh issue, which kept him out of the end of Newcastle's season.

Livramento previously spent almost a year out of action when he tore his ACL at former club Southampton in 2022.

The understanding is that Chelsea centre-back Trevoh Chalobah is most likely to be called up as Tino Livramento's replacement, should the England medical staff decide the Newcastle full-back is unable to play a part in the World Cup.

Tournament rules dictate that countries can call up injury replacements from their initial provisional squad list at any time before their opening game.

So the decision on Livramento must be confirmed before England play Croatia, which kicks off at 21:00 BST on Wednesday.

Image source, Getty Images

Livramento was due to be one of nine players primed to make their first senior World Cup appearance alongside James Trafford, Nico O’Reilly, Djed Spence, Dan Burn, Jarell Quansah, Elliot Anderson, Noni Madueke and Morgan Rogers.

When England manager Thomas Tuchel was asked at the announcement of his 26-man tournament squad what the Three Lions will need to bring it home, "stay healthy" was one of his criteria.

Sami Mokbel
BBC Sport Senior football correspondent

Tino Livramentois understood to have been injured during training on Sunday and is being assessed by medical staff.

England begin their World Cup bid against Croatia on Wednesday.

The 23-year-old full-back's involvement in the tournament had already been in doubt after he missed the final five weeks of the season with a thigh injury.

Chelsea defender Trevoh Chalobah, who is on England's stand-by list, is a possible replacement for Livramento should the Newcastle defender be ruled out.

England

We are just getting some breaking England team news from BBC Sport's senior football correspondent Sami Mokbel and it's not great.

Newcastle defender Tino Livramento's participation in the World Cup is in doubt over a fresh muscle injury concern and Chelsea's Trevoh Chalobah could be called up as his replacement.

More to follow.

Sami Mokbel
BBC Sport Senior football correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

England head coach Thomas Tuchel's two-year contract extension is subject to a performance clause, Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham has revealed.

With his original deal having been due to expire at the end of the World Cup, the FA and Tuchel agreed a new two-year contract earlier this year that takes the German to the end of Euro 2028.

Former Chelsea and Bayern Munich boss Tuchel was given the remit to win the World Cup when he was appointed by England in 2024.

Bullingham was asked whether the FA is protected should England's performance at this World Cup mean it does not want Tuchel to lead the team at Euro 2028.

"There's performance clauses in every single contract at the FA, but I'm not going into any detail of what they are," said Bullingham.

Asked whether there was a break clause in the deal that Tuchel can activate, Bullingham said: "We can hold him to the contract."

Read the full story here

BBC Sport's World Cup pundits have been busy choosing their own preferred England starting XIs, so we will throw a few of those into the mix.

Next up is a bit of news on Thomas Tuchel's contract as Three Lions boss...

England

There seems to be a broad agreement on most positions in England's starting XI, with a few exceptions, the biggest being who should play in the number 10 position and wide on the left.

There are also fitness concerns about right winger Bukayo Saka, so who would you pick instead of him and has Thomas Tuchel made a mistake in not adding more cover in this area to his squad?

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Thanks.

England

OK, it feels like we have been holding off on England chat for long enough now.

Thomas Tuchel's side have been given the longest of long run-ups to their opening game against Croatia, but we are less than 33 hours from kick off now.

Three Lions fans are mobilising ahead of their opening game at Dallas Stadium - the final match in the opening round of group games - while the squad will soon be preparing to leave their training base in Kansas City.

We will be hosting a long build-up on this page tomorrow, including a Q&A session with BBC Sport's chief football writer Phil McNulty.

But today we thought we would spend a couple of hours discussing who should be in England's starting XI, amongst other things...

Image source, Getty Images