Thomas Tuchel had to call several players this week to inform them they hadn't been selected for England's 26-man World Cup squad - and a few have now reacted publicly
Players of England pose for a photo prior to the international friendly match between England and Uruguay at Wembley Stadium
Both Harry Maguire and James Garner started for England vs Uruguay in March(Image: Eddie Keogh/The FA via Getty Images)
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Everton midfielder James Garner has followed Harry Maguire's lead in expressing his disappointment at missing out on a place in England's World Cup squad. Thomas Tuchel announced his 26-man squad for this summer's tournament on Friday morning, with the duo a number of high-profile omissions.
Tuchel has made a handful of bold selection calls, with Garner and Maguire joining the likes of Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Lewis Hall, Jarrod Bowen, Morgan Gibbs-White and Trent Alexander-Arnold on the list of snubbed players. John Stones, Dan Burn, Djed Spence, Jordan Henderson and Ivan Toney are among the most surprising players who are selected.
While the squad wasn't announced until 10am on Friday morning, Maguire reacted the day before after being phoned by Tuchel. The Manchester United defender, who has 66 caps for his country, said he was "shocked and gutted" to miss out and now Garner has reacted with a similar sentiment.
"Gutted is an understatement. Good luck to the boys," he wrote on Instagram, quoting a post from Everton shared some of Garner's statistics and added: "Head up Jimmy. You've shown your quality throughout this season - your time will come."
The 25-year-old midfielder won his first two caps in the friendlies against Uruguay and Japan in March, but has missed out, with Henderson, Declan Rice, Elliot Anderson and Kobbie Mainoo selected in central midfield by Tuchel.
The German head coach said he spoke to every player who was left out personally to explain his decision and listen to their disappointment. "Very difficult decisions, painful conversations. Difficult for the players, difficult to explain to the players," he said.
"What we’re trying to achieve as a team and we try to nominate a balanced squad. If everyone is selected, it was a given that from these 55 players, we have to leave some extraordinary talents, some extraordinary personalities at home.
James Garner of England
James Garner has missed out on the World Cup(Image: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
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"Either way, if we picked all those names, some other big five names would have been out and we would be talking about these names. It comes with the job. I like these kinds of decisions, even if it sometimes took weeks and sometimes, months to clarify the decisions. I think they bring clarity. At the end, they bring a certain edge that is necessary.
"I try to explain for the players the reason they could be in camp. Did they do anything wrong? No. Could they be in camp? Yes. 100 per cent sure. But for some of them, it is just the amount of players in a certain position. We didn’t want to play the players out of position so much and we wanted to give them a clear role and it comes with difficult and maybe hard choices in the build up to the tournament."
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