**Newcastle United winger, Anthony Gordon, missed out on England’s 1-1 bore draw with Uruguay on Friday before starting in the game against Japan on Tuesday night.**
England boss Thomas Tuchel called up a 35-man squad for the March friendlies, [which included six Newcastle players](https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2026/03/23/england-call-up-sixth-newcastle-player-as-harvey-barnes-swaps-with-arsenal-star/), as he looks to make a decision on his World Cup squad.
This allowed him to split the squad for each game and give some players a rest after a hectic club schedule.
Anthony Gordon was one of the beneficiaries of that after being part of the Newcastle team that has played more games than any other Premier League club this season.
Speaking to the media (via [The Chronicle](https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/newcastle-united-thank-thomas-tuchel-33698480)), the Newcastle forward said he appreciated the rest days and praised Thomas Tuchel as being an ‘intelligent’ manager.
> _“I can’t remember the last days off I had, with the Champions League and the cups. We had quite long cup runs so I definitely needed the days off, so I am very grateful to the manager._
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> _“I don’t like to miss any caps. Getting England caps means the world to me. So missing the first game was obviously quite difficult but you’ve got to see the bigger picture._
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> _“He is very, very smart and very, very intelligent the manager. He thought that was what was best.”_
Newcastle should also be thankful for Tuchel’s approach to these past two fixtures, and for giving our lads a rest.
We had six players in the England camp, five of whom were involved in the matches. Aaron Ramsdale was sent home after the Uruguay game and wasn’t used by Tuchel. Harvey Barnes was given some minutes against Uruguay but was an unused sub against Japan.
Lewis Hall, Dan Burn and Tino Livramento played a part in each of the two games, while Gordon was only deployed against Japan.
Hopefully, the reduced minutes over the two games will have given our lads enough of a breather that they can hit training next week at full pelt, ready for the Premier League run-in.