England v Wales: Keeping it fresh is Thomas Tuchel's biggest challenge
Keeping it fresh could be the biggest challenge of Thomas Tuchel's time as England manager.
When Gareth Southgate took the job in in 2016, it had a revitalising effect: wearing the Three Lions became a privilege again, not a chore. By the last European Championship, things were getting stale once more.
Even with Jack Grealish, Marcus Rashford and Harry Maguire cut, the squad looked jaded in Germany.
Harry Kane seemed exhausted, Phil Foden burnt out, Kyle Walker old; Jude Bellingham produced flashes of brilliance, but more of anger; Luke Shaw was not fit enough to start until the final.
In the knockout stages they raged against the dying of the light – Bellingham''s spectacular stoppage-time equaliser against Slovakia, Bukayo Saka equalising with England's first shot against Switzerland, Ollie Watkins off the bench against the Dutch, even Cole Palmer's equaliser in the final.
But things had run their course.
Tuchel's arrival on an 18-month contract did little to change that initially. No raft of new caps, no tactical revolutions.
Labouring to victory over Andorra then defeat against Senegal in June, England just looked in need of a rest. Fat chance.
But last month's 5-0 win in Serbia felt like the first real whiff of fresh air. Now Tuchel must try to keep it without handicapping his team.
Against Wales on Thursday and in Lativa on Tuesday, he will use the squad which served him so well in Belgrade, unfussed by the commotion around leaving out Bellingham, Foden and a revitalised Grealish.
Even down to one right-back with injuries to Trent Alexander-Arnold, Reece James and Tino Livramento plus Kieran Trippier’s retirement, he has not picked up the phone to Walker. An absence of natural left-backs has not reprieved Shaw.
But there is a balance to strike. Even stale, Southgate's group was good enough to reach a second consecutive European Championship final.
We assume Bellingham and Foden will be on the plane to North America, but if they are, it will surely only be on Tuchel's terms.
The 2026 World Cup will be an unprecedented slog. Combining freshness with proven quality will be tough, but perhaps decisive.
The world's top players are on their last legs.
Covid-19 put real strain on them, and a winter World Cup in 2022 made it worse. The summer of 2024 brought a European Championship, this year a Club World Cup in oppressive conditions seemingly only so FIFA could score points – and dollars – over UEFA.
Last season’s new format for European club competitions squeezed yet more juice from the lemon.
Next summer's World Cup will feature a 48 teams playing across a vast continent in those same conditions. It has yet to be decided if kick-off times will be tailored to player welfare or television viewing figures.
No wonder Foden, Kane and Bellignham looked so knackered, Walker so old. No wonder John Stones has played so little football since Manchester City's 2023 treble, or that Grealish and Rashford seemed to lose their appetites.
Nobody should be shocked that since their Club World Cup outings Alexander-Arnold, Palmer and Bellingham have been struck by injury, or rather stopped being able to play through them, certainly in the case of the last two. No wonder a cruciate knee ligament injury whilst training in America in June means former Huddersfield Town loanee Levi Colwill is unlikely to be back next year.
The governing bodies have their heads too deep in the trough to notice.
Being run into the ground is an occupational hazard for the world's best players, so picking an England squad just on who has not been overworked is unwise too.
Tuchel has not done without Kane's prolific scoring – though a knee injury may mean he has to on Thursday – or Declan Rice's quality, but they need freshness around them to feel energised.
The introduction of Dan Burn and Miles Lewis-Skelly earlier in the year did that, and Elliot Anderson's maiden caps accelerated it in September. Morgan Rogers and Morgan Gibbs-White have shown an enthusiasm which brings more to the party than frankly better players.
If and when the big names come back, it will be with a point to prove, not just an obligation to fulfill.
Only Kane and new cap Nico O'Reilly of this squad played at the Club World Cup. On the other hand, only Jordan Pickford, Jordan Henderson, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Jarrod Bowen are not involved in those overblown European competitions, and most can expect to go deep in them. It will provide lots of experience, but at what cost? Tune in next summer to find out.
In of themselves, a mid-season friendly against inferior opposition, followed by a jeopardy-free World Cup qualifier in Latvia are pretty unappealing, as it goes. To come out of them with the freshness of Belgrade intact would be pretty significant.