Key events
4 min Senegal have started well, pressing aggressively and pinning England in their half.
3 min Eze has started high up the field for England, essentially as a second striker. Imagine if England won the World Cup playing a rigid 4-4-2. In the parlance of our times, I’m here for it.
2 min Idrissa Gueye drills a routine 20-yarder that is easily saved by Henderson.
2 min ITV’s Sam Matterface reminds us that England have never lost to an African team. For a split-second I thought he was wrong, then I remembered that England won the Italia 90 quarter-final against Cameroon. To this day, I know not how.
1 min Senegal, in green, kick off from right to left as we watch.
The players are running late, so kick-off will be around 7.50pm.
A few of you have pointed out that I originally had Aliou Cisse, not Pape Thiaw, managing Senegal. Apologies for that. “Not the glorious return I hoped!” says Scott Rutherford.
I may as well apologise in advance for the errors I’ll make once the match begins. My health isn’t great at the moment so my brain is even slower than usual, but I’ll do my best. It’s not an excuse, it’s a reason!
Reasons to wish every human being on the planet was like Bukayo Saka, No294815
Tucker the cockapoo arrived while Saka was rehabilitating from surgery. “It was a bit tough at first because he’s a puppy and I couldn’t really get after him. But it was a good experience.”
There was also more time for reading. One book in particular, Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, struck a chord. “I read nonfiction,” Saka says. “One of the books I was given by Carlos [Cuesta, Mikel Arteta’s assistant coach] was called The Power of Now. A really good book. It’s about not thinking about the past, not thinking about the future, just being in the moment and always asking yourself what’s necessary right now.
This is a good piece from Jonathan Wilson on why Thomas Tuchell is so keen to have Jordan Henderson around
The details of Henderson’s performance against Andorra are largely irrelevant. Some players thrive against minnows, some struggle in a game very different from the high-level fixtures with which they are more familiar. How you play against Andorra is not going to determine whether you have a part in a potential World Cup-winning side. But one recovery run to stymie an Andorra counter after Dan Burn had lost possession caught the eye; Henderson, at least, was switched on. And it was after he was substituted after 63 minutes that England slipped into the individualism that so annoyed Tuchel.
Henderson is a professional, the non-commissioned officer maintaining discipline and morale, ensuring the plan is followed and standards maintained. He has captained a team that won the league and the Champions League. During the Covid lockdown, he emerged as a de facto spokesperson for the players. He has the respect of his peers. And that is no small thing.
One of Thomas Tuchel’s biggest challenges is to stop English football’s never-ending arm-wrestle with a self-loathing subconscious.
The scale of that challenge is shown by one slightly clunky statistic. If they are to win the World Cup, England will surely at some stage need to beat one of the other seven World Cup winners in a knockout game. The last time they did outside England was [checks notes, shrieks a bit] 1962.
Senegal team news
Pape Thiaw has named a strong side, which includes seven past and present Premier League players – and probably a couple of the future as well. The front three of Ismaila Sarr, Nicolas Jackson and Iliman Ndiaye should kept England’s defence honest.
Senegal (possible 4-3-3) E Mendy; Diatta, Koulibaly, Niakhate, M Diouf; Diarra, Idrissa Gueye (Everton), L Camara; Sarr, Jackson, I Ndiaye.
Substitutes: M Camara, Y Diouf, I Camara, Seck, Dia, Sabaly, C Ndiaye, Jakobs, Niasse, Idrissa Gueye (Metz), Sima, Diaw, A Mendy, P Gueye.
England team news: Tuchel makes 10 changes
Thomas Tuchel has changed all bar one of the team that started against XI. The odd man in is the captain Harry Kane. It was probably part of the plan all along; either that or he’s channelling his inner John Sitton.
Chelsea centre-back Trevor Chalobah is the most notable inclusion; he makes his international debut alongside his club teammate Levi Colwill.
England (4-2-3-1) Henderson; Walker, Chalobah, Colwill, Lewis-Skelly; Gallagher, Rice; Saka, Eze, Gordon; Kane.
Substitutes: Pickford, James, Konsa, Gibbs-White, Henderson, Bellingham, Burn, Toney, Alexander-Arnold, Jones, Rogers, Madueke, Palmer, Trafford.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to the City Ground the Guardian liveblog bunker for live coverage of England v Senegal at the City Ground. Thomas Tuchel isn’t in the business of selling tickets or building hype, but his unsparing appraisal of England’s performance against Andorra – Kevin the Teenager tribute included – has increased the interest in what could otherwise have been just another friendly.
This is only the second meeting between the sides, a slight surprise given their status in world football. The first was in the last 16 of Qatar 2022, when England surged to a 3-0 victory after an even first 35 minutes.
The next World Cup is the endgame for Tuchel and England, but tonight’s match has a standalone appeal that probably wasn’t there 72 hours ago.
Kick off 7.45pm.
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