Thomas Tuchel said before the game White had to ‘clear the air with his team-mates’.
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Ben White opened the scoring for England but was booed by fans (Bradley Collyer/PA)
Ben White opened the scoring for England but was booed by fans (Bradley Collyer/PA) (PA Wire)
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England fans booed Ben White after he scored the opening goal in England’s friendly against Uruguay at Wembley.
The Arsenal defender prodded home a corner at the far post just 11 minutes after coming on as a second-half substitute but received widespread jeers when his name was read out as the scorer.
White is back in the fold for the first time since he left the 2022 World Cup squad for “personal reasons” and then made himself unavailable for the rest of Sir Gareth Southgate’s reign amid reports of a fall-out with number two Steve Holland.
Boss Thomas Tuchel brought him into a 35-man group after Jarell Quansah suffered an injury and the German urged fans not to give him a negative reaction when he spoke before the match.
However, that fell on deaf ears as the home support made their feelings known when White replaced Fikayo Tomori in the 69th minute.
With the game still 0-0, he was roundly booed, with a section of fans also singing “you let your country down”.
It looked like the moment had passed as he was not jeered in possession, but England fans were ruthless as he bagged his first international goal.
And White’s action-packed evening took a further turn for the worse when he gave away an injury-time penalty that saw Uruguay earn a 1-1 draw.
The Arsenal defender had slotted in at centre-half alongside Harry Maguire, who was one of the players Tuchel said White had to “clear the air” with.
Tuchel said before the game: “I think it is necessary that he clears the air with his team-mates, and I think he does, and I think he will once players come back who were in the World Cup together with him, and then we go from there.
“Let’s see how it goes and let’s see how he feels. If he feels as confident and as comfortable as he thought he would. Until now this is the case, and he has my support.
“Hopefully he gets the support from the spectators and we take it from there.”