England

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England boss Thomas Tuchel on Harry Maguire's statement after finishing out he did not make the England squad: "I was a bit surprised, but I respect his personality a lot, I respect his quality a lot. He has had an outstanding season, I can see the disappointment, I can see the reason behind the disappointment.

"Still I was a bit surprised because we had a private conversation and he had the chance to express his feelings which he did and this is fair enough because I can see all the reasons why he could be in the squad. But, the decision is that we stood firmly with our central defenders that carried us through September, October and November.

"Some of them are part of the leadership group that took ownership and set the standards high. It was a decision for these 26 players, even if it feels against individuals."

England

England boss Thomas Tuchel on fearing leaving world class talents at home: "No, I don’t fear because I am very confident in the group that we chose of which we arrive with. Very difficult decisions, painful conversations. Difficult for the players, difficult to explain to the players. 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.

"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% 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."

England

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England boss Thomas Tuchel on people being surprised by the inclusion of Ivan Toney: "Also a bit of a surprise to us [his inclusion], when it came down to all different kinds of scenarios he was back in the picture. I had fantastic feedback from his club coach, who was my player and I have a close connection with him, always fantastic feedback about his role there, about his ability, his fitness.

"We could see that he still collects the numbers, I think he has very special skills that could help us, the situations, scenarios when we are chasing a result. I think he can be a very valuable addition to Harry Kane, he can be present in the box when we are pushing for a goal.

"He can take attention off other strikers, he has a natural presence within the box, he is a natural finisher, he can help us with set pieces, he is very strong in there. Very good in using his body and not to forget, he is a world class penalty taker. He ticks some boxes that we wanted to be ticked."

England

England boss Thomas Tuchel on players who have missed out: "It is important for me to say that I am very grateful to all the players who have helped us qualify, to the players who have had one of six camps with us. Very grateful and I tried to show my respect and appreciation for what they have done, in telling them in person or phone calls in the last three days about my decision.

"So I called every player that was at least once with us, personally, to tell them my decision, even if it was a painful decision or it was a disappointing message. We believe it has to be delivered from me, I will not go into details of course but I tried to explain and express my appreciation and respect for the player."

England

England boss Thomas Tuchel on the leadership group: "We have a decent leadership group in camp. The leadership group took care and ownership in a very special way, from September onwards.

"They created a culture, they set the tone, they set the standards created and took care of the standards and we were very happy with that and that is why the maturity of this team and selection is from the players who were with us in September, October and November."

England

Djed Spence was "excellent in every single match he played for us," says Thomas Tuchel, when asked about the inclusion of the Spurs defender.

"He is the quickest player in the squad and loves defending," he adds.

Full quotes to follow...

England

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More from England boss Thomas Tuchel: "The squad has a significant number of players that will compete for starting minutes and starting places, that also gives us the chance to rotate on a high level and a significant number of players who carry the sportive responsibility on the highest level.

"We have a huge chunk of youthfulness in the squad. We have six players who have won titles with the under-21s. We have Kobbie, who is still young and has won his titles, we have Nico O'Reilly on top who is young and already won his medals.

"We have specialists with us, specialists for all kinds of different scenarios, when we are leading, when we are chasing a game, a result. We've always said we want to be a strong set-piece team, so we have specialists for that and we want to be a strong penalty team, we have specialists for that."

England

Thomas Tuchel confirms Alex Scott, Rio Ngumoha, Josh King and one other player will travel to Florida with the squad to make up the numbers for the initial friendlies.

Full quotes to follow...

England

More from England boss Thomas Tuchel on his squad selections: "We chose a very balanced squad, we chose three goalkeepers, plus Jason Steele. I want to take the opportunity and thank Jason for being brilliant and thank Brighton for being so cooperative and supportive.

"We choose nine defenders for four positions, we chose seven midfielders for three positions and we chose seven strikers for three positions.

"I can assure every fan in the country that we have 26 100% committed players in camp with us, who know their role, who are ready to buy into their role, on and off the pitch, who are ready and committed to the idea of team spirit and being unselfish."

England

Thomas Tuchel says he "was a bit surprised" by the statement released by Harry Maguire on Thursday evening because he had already had a private conversation with him and he made his feelings clear.

He added that he respects his personality and quality but was taken aback by the statement.

Full quotes to follow...

England

England boss Thomas Tuchel on his squad selection: "Of course you saw our squad selection for the World Cup, which is an exciting day for me and for everyone selected.

"I think from day one we were very clear that we are trying to select and build the best possible team, which is not necessarily to select and collect the 26 most talented players.

"Teams win championships, it is as simple as that. What we are trying to achieve in the summer can only be achieved as a team."

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England

England manager Thomas Tuchel has opened his news conference with a big old speech before even being asked a question.

He has gone into detailed reasoning behind why he has made the picks he has without singling anyone out.

I've said it before but he doesn't half speak well...

Here come the questions now and the first one is about Ivan Toney who he says "can be a very good addition to Harry Kane."

Full quotes to follow...

England

England manager Thomas Tuchel has just taken his seat in front of the media and will now face questions surrounding his squad selection for the 2026 World Cup.

We'll bring you his full quotes live on this page or if you'd rather watch along, you can do so by clicking 'Watch live' up at the top.

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Another call that could divide opinions as Djed Spence is selected ahead of Newcastle United's Lewis Hall.

Tottenham full-back Spence, 25, suffered a broken jaw in their 2-1 defeat by Chelsea on Tuesday but is expected to wear a protective mask if he plays against Everton in the Premier League on Sunday.

Here’s a look at their Premier League numbers this season - do you agree with Thomas Tuchel’s decision? Hit thumbs up for Spence or thumbs down for Hall below.

Phil Jagielka
Former England defender

It's not been a great season for either Phil Foden or Cole Palmer. And in that attacking area, we've got a pool of players who have outperformed them at club level.

Usually for England you get to keep your place on your name, but Thomas Tuchel wants to pick on form and chemistry, so I'm not surprised.

Would I have take Ivan Toney? With no disrespect, no, but it's a different situation.

Maybe his schedule hasn't been as hectic. If the manager thinks he needs to give Harry Kane a rest or we need a penalty specialist, there are loads of situations where he could come into the mix.

It's going to be a very hot tournament, so he wants to bring a pretty fresh Ivan Toney. Obviously, he's a penalty specialist. We hope we won't go through that in a tournament again but that's very possible.

Having a few extra numbers allows you to take specialists or players for specific occasions. The only thing I can think of with Toney is that he's very much a specialist when it comes to taking penalties.

With the Harry Maguire situation, it's one where Tuchel has decided to go with other options.

I think Maguire's form this year has put him in as good a position as he could have been in, but Tuchel's stuck to his guns and you've got to respect that.

Sami Mokbel
BBC Sport Senior football correspondent at Wembley

No confirmation of this, but I’m hearing Thomas Tuchel is considering inviting some of the unlucky few to miss out on his final squad to join the travelling party for the pre-tournament camp in Florida. Bournemouth’s Alex Scott is an option if Tuchel decides to go down that route.