Thomas Tuchel reveals he changed ‘one or two’ England shirt numbers ahead of World Cup

England manager Thomas Tuchel insists fans should not read too much into the World Cup squad numbers – except for ‘one or two’.

The Three Lions boss is 11 days away from naming his starting XI for the World Cup opener against Croatia in Texas.

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Tuchel likes to keep people guessing, as demonstrated by his decision to leave a number of high-profile names at home for the tournament.

The German has already said he plans to pick two separate XIs to play each half against New Zealand in a pre-tournament friendly on Saturday night – live on talkSPORT.

And any final attempts to decipher his team selection will come in the second warm-up match against Costa Rica on Wednesday.

But there was a possible hint last week, as the official squad numbers were released.

With Marcus Rashford and Anthony Gordon battling to start on the left, fans were quick to note that Rashford was handed the traditional No.11 shirt, with Gordon given No.18.

And without going into specifics, Tuchel did not totally dismiss the idea that squad numbers were indicative of his plans, admitting he personally made some changes.

“It is and it is not,” the England boss told talkSPORT.

“I was not very much involved in these numbers. Way less than you might imagine.

“They sent me the list and I think I had an opinion on one or two numbers that we then changed.

“But there’s a whole thing going on. Players have wishes for their numbers. They want to keep the numbers that they had in former tournaments. They want to keep their number from the club.

“So there’s a whole thing going on. The times of 1 to 11 are behind us.

“I was a big fan of that, but this does not exist anymore.”

Change of plan?

Tuchel also admitted he was ready to change his plans for the New Zealand friendly after being left ‘concerned’ by the pitch in Miami.

The Raymond James Stadium, which hosts the NFL‘s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, plays host to the Three Lions tonight and images of the playing surface leave a lot to be desired.

When asked whether he is worried about injuries to star players, Tuchel joked that journalists had perhaps got in his head.

“Hopefully not, not yet. But you all make me concerned because you ask me questions about the pitch,” Tuchel said.

“Now I’m concerned. I wasn’t before the press conference! People tell me and our greenkeeper went there and they told me it will be okay and it should be okay.

“Let’s hope it’s okay. If we find out tomorrow that it’s not okay, then we will adapt and maybe change some decisions.

“But at the moment, we plan to play two full teams for 45 minutes.”