Jude Bellingham: England boss Thomas Tuchel claims the Real Madrid star has a fight on his hands to secure a starting World Cup spot. football news

Thomas Tuchel says Jude Bellingham has a fight on his hands to secure an England starting place, as the World Cup race heats up under the West Palm Beach sun.

Morgan Rodgers gets the nod ahead of Bellingham in World Cup qualification – the Aston Villa man is the only England player to feature in each of the eight matches. The Real Madrid star has been seen in just four.

Asked if Bellingham has a fight for a place in the starting XI, Tuchel said: “Yes, he has.

“He’s one of the starters, he knows he’s one of the starters, but we have 14 or 15 potential starters. Those roles can always change, but right now I think there are 14 or 15 decent starters and Judd is one of them.”

Bellingham replaced his friend Rogers against New Zealand in Tampa, when each played 45 minutes in the No.10 role. Tuchel admits he has been impressed with what he has seen of the 22-year-old recently.

“He (Judd) feels good. He feels good in training. I think he’s in a sweet spot at the moment because he’s had a break and he’s hungry to get back on the pitch and get over the injury – that’s normal. And he’s very happy to be back on the pitch. You take everything.”

Tuchel again declined to say whether Bellingham was part of England’s ‘leadership group’ – a core selection of senior players who meet separately from the main squad to discuss tactical approaches and other important matters with the head coach and his assistant Anthony Barry. It’s a structure that has stuck with Tuchel, after it was first introduced by his predecessor Sir Gareth Southgate.

Bellingham wore the captain’s armband for the entire second half of Saturday’s friendly win over New Zealand for the first time, but Tuchel said with a smile that he was the player on the pitch with the most international caps at the time.

With the World Cup opener against Croatia on June 17, the England head coach has revealed more details about how he sees the pecking order in camp at the moment. It seems Tuchel has three separate groups in mind out of the 26.

“We’ve got 14 or 15 potential starters and then there’s a special teams … and then there’s guys who finish matches for us and get the right strength.”

While the media and fans will speculate which players fall into which category, Tuchel said he has already told the players individually, and their status could change between now and the first match.

Tuchel named Rice as World Cup vice-captain

The news of Bellingham not being confirmed comes as Tuchel confirmed that Declan Rice will be vice-captain of the Three Lions this summer.

The England head coach has consistently refused to reveal any details of his leadership group, particularly whether Bellingham is part of it. But he has now confirmed that he has told the players why when Harry Kane is not on the field, Rice will wear the captain’s armband.

“I never talk about leadership groups,” Tuchel said. “Declan is my vice-captain. We spoke (to the team) when Harry wasn’t in camp with us.”

Rice has captained England twice before. The first of these was against Belgium in 2024, ahead of his 50th cap. But he is further down Arsenal’s pecking order, with Martin Odegaard and England team-mate Bukayo Saka ahead of him.

Tuchel also confirmed that England will play a behind-closed-doors friendly against local side Miami United later this week, as they continue their preparations for the opening game against Croatia on June 17.

Against New Zealand, England had two completely different teams of 11 who played each half. But the Arsenal side of Rice, Saka, Eberechi Eze and Noni Maduik have now joined the squad at their West Palm Beach camp, and Tuchel said he was yet to assess how many minutes they and others would play in Wednesday’s friendly against Costa Rica in Orlando.

“I think we’ll get the bulk of the minutes because it’s just the build-up,” he explained. “Then we have six days to prepare for Croatia. I think we need some players to play 60-70 minutes.

“We have three training days, one more match behind closed doors to manage all the minutes. Because let’s say someone plays 70 minutes against Costa Rica, someone else only plays 20. So it’s not enough. Those who play only 20 or 30 minutes will play again in the next match.”

Tuchel wants ‘brotherhood’ from England squad

Asked about the competition for places, with at least two players competing in each position, Tuchel called for “brotherhood” to come first.

“I think the players want to impress and they want to impress me. That’s why we chose this team,” he said.

“I think they do it in a very complex way. That’s the attitude we want to have and we’ll need it throughout the tournament.

“We don’t want to put guys on the bench who are thinking ‘he’s doing poorly, so I might have a chance’. So I don’t think they think they’re going to play against each other, but they’re happy to push. I think they can put it in perspective. They know they haven’t played together since November. Some of them come off the holidays, get the engines going.”