England squad leaked hours before DR Congo game as major stars miss out
Thomas Tuchel is set to make three changes to the England team tonight as the Three Lions face up against DR Congo.
England are hoping to set up a round of 16 tie against Mexico at the Azteca Stadium with victory against the African nation, with kick-off at 5pm BST this evening (1 July).
Although the Three Lions topped their World Cup group, England struggled in both group games against Ghana and Panama, with two second-half goals from Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane earning Tuchel's side top spot following the exciting opening game victory over Croatia.
With thousands of fans in the States following the team, it's likely that they will come up against another low block defence in the game, while also having to be wary of Premier League stars Yoanne Wissa and Aaron Wan-Bissaka in the Leopards' starting team.
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Reports from the ever-reliable David Ornstein suggest that Noni Madueke will return on the right-hand side in place of Bukayo Saka, while Declan Rice will return to the midfield, with Morgan Rogers dropping to the bench and Bellingham likely pushed forward back into the number 10 role.
Meanwhile, it's Djed Spence who gets the nod at right-back as expected, following the injuries to Jarrell Quansah and Reece James.
Therefore, the staring team is likely to be:
Jordan Pickford (GK), Djed Spence (RB) Ezri Konsa (CB) Marc Guéhi (CB) Nico O'Reilly (LB), Elliot Anderson (CM) Declan Rice (CM), Jude Bellingham (CAM) Marcus Rashford (LW) Noni Madueke (RW), Harry Kane (ST).
Questions have been asked of the manager and the squad after less-than-convincing performances in the last two fixtures, with England fans clearly having a short memory when you consider we earned just one point in the 2014 World Cup group stages.
The players also heaped praise on Tuchel after he inspired them to a superb second-half performance against Croatia in the opener, with fans hoping for a similarly attacking performance in the first knockout fixture today.
Captain Kane said: “Credit to the manager, he gave us a speech at half-time and said if we lose, we lose in our way and I think we saw that in the way we came out in the second half.
“We went full gas and they couldn’t live with it. Credit to everyone for the first game of the tournament.
“Without the ball, we went a bit more aggressive. It was difficult. They have players like Luka Modric dropping in and you’re trying to figure out who to pick up.
“The intensity we want, it’s our biggest strength and we’ll have to use that more.
“The way we controlled the game once we went ahead, we never really looked like we were in danger and then scored on the counter-attack. We had a spell where we could have scored three or four.”
Considering Saka's injury issues, as well as the knock that Quansah picked up against Panama, it's perhaps no surprise that they both miss out today, while Rice was always going to come back into the starting team.
With less than two hours to kick-off, here's hoping that you've been let out of work early enough to make it to the pub.
James Moorhouse